Subscribe to the local paper online, start to follow the real estate market locally.

Most are folks that have the emotional control of a 5 year old, controlling attitude, an omniscient narrative in every thread & topic, act like an online hall monitor, and constant attention seeking. 

Here is my system that I have shared on the forums previously:It all starts with online ads, within which are several pre-screening questions I request be answered in their response to my ad.

I've used an online designer before, you send her photos, measurements of the room and existing furniture, and your budget and she presents you with design options and the links to buy!

This may be because (1) until recently interest rates were trending lower so if the lender is getting a higher rate on subject note than he can obtain on new note there’s no monetary incentive to call the note (2) in the past technology did not exist to identify the property transfers (ten years ago county recording docs were not online) and (3) the lenders rather collect payments than own property.  

Networking through meetups and leveraging online communities like BiggerPockets can provide invaluable support and insights as you take your first steps.Good luck!

We moved it to a 1 night minimum because we were having trouble filling weekend slots, which was rare for our listing.

For contact management like that its awesome to search for specific types of people and locations or just data like "how long does it take to foreclose in texas".We have some other use cases as well that we use to track not only ours but competitors results online and learning what does and does not work for different aspects of the business.

The real work is locating these properties and I've learned the best way to do this is to work in towns/areas that have online GIS systems that map; topography, wetlands, soils, etc. and assessors data available for download either from local sources or listsource.com.  

@Scott Trench   ​    I saw that as well online - 90 day moratorium - basicaly no unsolicitied offers to homeowners impacted in specific zip codes.