You could do skip tracing.

I'm both an investor and an agent, and I can tell you that, as a buyer's agent,  I'd be more annoyed that my buyer skipped over me and contacted a seller or listing agent directly than I would be by being asked to prepare an offer.

Great for Tax Sale Investors also.https://publicrecords.netronli...and Merlin - Is a skip trace site.https://merlinlocate.com/The skills of learning how to search public records can help investors with due diligence.

As for other properties, you can use websites showing tax records here https://www.crimpr.net/ and perhaps use skip tracing services like TLO to find owners. 

You've said you were new and I see some advice you've been given to do it yourself and skip the agent.

The resources are out there, but if you want to do some more digging, you could skip trace addresses to get the owners or whoever is attached to the property's phone numbers.

There were a couple times that car problems came up and we skipped payments, so they never really got that far ahead.

Regarding skip tracing, Tracers is a good resource as TLO has been declining more folks the past year

By demonstrating your commitment and dedication, you position yourself to receive valuable mentorship and investment from seasoned wholesalers.Pay to Skip the line (Masterminds) :Treat your wholesaling business like a trip to Disney.

I am already doing the marketing (placed bandit signs, launching FB ad next week, selected   databases to purchase the list of properties that fall under high equity, vacant and other criteria, to be skip traced and cold called  and etc.).