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

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!

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.  

If you want to understand 5-year outlook, I'd look for multifamily construction data in your area to understand what level of new units is and will be coming online in the near future. 

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

I think they just started offering it again.Dyches Boddiford has a good course https://assets101.com/events/hard-money-lending-online/I and several others have taken it.

But this was late 90s so way before on line stuff had taken off.