I was hoping to connect with individuals in the space that would be able to help guide me through this process. 

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More or less, the buyer just wants to move quickly to close which is really all it means. 

Ii am looking for guidelines to get off-market, foreclosure, distressed properties in wake county or within 60 minutes of travel. please throw some light and guide me.

Foreclosure lists I think can be determined at some sites like propstream (I've never used it so I could be wrong).3: networking with lawyers that do probate situation and/or divorce situations and want a quick close4: Owner occupant of a property on Hud Homestore - basically trying to help first time homebuyers buy - less competition5: tax auction and tax auction sites6: Offering on properties that have been sitting on the MLS for LONG periods of time and low balling them.7: Calling owners that have recently had their property pulled from the MLS.8: Wholesalers that are selling to you with an assignment fee.9: Low balling every property you look at on the MLS and seeing what sticks.10: FSBO with strong negotiation skills.11: MLS when you see the property really quick once it comes on MLS and put in a full price offer but it was mispriced low (I got a gem a few years ago that has probably close to doubled in values since 2020 when I bought it).12: MLS offers that you really want to ownI might be missing some others but these are the general classes of people that I have noticed. 

Some other benefits are having a great airport, quick access to 2 cruise ports a high speed train to Miami and East or West coast beaches within an hour.

It would be invaluable to have a quick call with you. 

I know advanced investors are not possibly using this tool, by me as a newbie has been using it to do a quick check before deep diving into a property.

I'm sure most financial advisors would second this.Depending on area and how quickly a home can be rented out, I think 3 months is very fair to have in actual reserves.

Thought I'd mention quickly that the deadline this year is actually April 15th.