The subject line says it all... for all you CRE agents out there, what have you done to prospect for new clients!?

Soon, there will be a ton of posts below from agents in Columbus and Cleveland to "help" you, but you already know where you want to be.I wouldn't be thinking STR for Ohio unless you are doing woodsy, which can work, but the table stakes are high on those (swimming holes, saunas, game rooms, hot tubs).

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I suggest checking out some of the local Chicago meetups:  https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521-real-estate-events-...I'd also recommend setting up some coffee meetings with some of the TOP TALENT in Chicago: agents like @Jake Fugman & @John Warren and property managers like @Mark Ainley & @Krystyna Schexnayder and lenders like @Jose Valdovinos & @Zack Karp.

Hi, I am Canadian, and I am not a registered agent, but interested in seller finance, so my question is can I talk to sellers directly or I have to do this through an agent that represents me? 

If they don't know this is an expectation of yours they have no way of fulfilling it.If you still want to look for another one after that, we have agents in by brokerage all over the country that are investor friendly I'm sure I could help out.

I flip, invest, and I am a real estate agent in Tucson AZ.

@Suzette Gonzalez a company needs to be a licensed agent/broker in California to deal with short sales. 

So, real estate agents may do it part-time, but rarely do they do it well.Recommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

The agent let me know the owner passed away and the seller has no blood relationship to the previous seller and knew nothing about the property.