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

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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.). 

You can skip trace and target a certain area, street, type of property, etc. 

Inspections take for absolutely ever so I know many would be permit pullers are skipping the process because it can take a month to get an inspection.

So, this skips the need for a cash out refi (saving that cost and avoids seasoning issues)