My local market only has one power company so I'm wondering how people systemize this...

Also, connecting with local realtors or property managers could help you get a feel for market rents and tenant management.

Once we finally got the tenant out; we sold to a local investor who was planning on using it for his business.

I belong to a few local Facebook vacation rental groups.  

However, it seems my local area (San Jose / Bay Area) might not be the best as I know most of the win is in the buy.

Hello AllI am a business management executive for a large global company, and we (my wife and I) are getting into local real estate investing primarily within LA county, IE, OC and Riverside area.

I found this deal off market while making relationships with local real estate agents.How did you finance this deal?

I am still very active in my local market as a host of the WWL Home Improvement each weekend.

Carter,Network locally with real estate investment groups and Facebook groups. 

A suggestion I would give you is to find a couple "for rent" signs in your local market, get the address and start "running your numbers" on the rental property calculator that BP has for us on here.