You can usually find some events by doing a simple google search.

It would likely be comparable to what you pay in the NE.Just google "Lexington County tax estimator" or whatever county you're interested in and you'll usually find a web tool from the County you can use to estimate the tax bill based on the previous year's assessments.There is also a law called the ATI tax exemption that can potentially lower than 6% rate by 25%.

If you're expecting property owners to sell their home to you at a discount, you'll need to earn their trust - whether that be by demonstrating a successful track record with purchasing/selling similar deals OR by meeting them face to face and separating yourself from the dozens of local investors and realtors.Lastly, I'd recommend searching past posts related to this topic as well as checking out books related to your target investment strategies.All the best!

Have you taken the time to search AirBNB and VRBO in those specific areas to see how many STRs are operating?

Gentrification follows the formula of cheap rent+ east commute to downtown + open vacant space for restaurants and bars + proximity to another gentrified neighborhood that is getting to expensive so people expand their search to surrounding.  

Search for and buy a bad roof.

Here are a few suggestions on how you can maximize the wealth of information available: Check out the blogs and podcasts, or take advantage of the search feature (magnifying glass).

However, if a deal falls through, we'll keep searching for more deals until you get one closed. 

I don't want to get lazy (in the beginning) and rely on automated tools.

Go search the topic "Lifestyle Asset University" here on Bigger Pockets and you will see a longer thread with a lot of opinions (most are not members) but still worth a read as there are a half a dozen paid members from our group who have commented on that thread.We were formerly called Lifestyle Asset University, but I didn't realize that you couldn't use the word University in your company name here in Utah so we changed our name to Vodyssey.