It sounds like you just don’t have that type of relationship with any agents in your area yet, or you’re shopping for properties that aren’t worth the effort for an agent to beat the bushes to find for you, or you’re not the kind of buyer who agents will send their off market deals to.

If you really want to go down that path, I suggest that you apply to work for a syndicator or RE Private Equity shop as an analyst or operator for a year or two, and browse through 100+ deals over that time period, underwriting each one, and trying to figure out, over that time, which ones you were "right" about, and which ones you were "wrong" about, as best you can.

Someone will lend on the property.I have used 3 different brokers who shopped around for me.

Regarding insurance, i would recommend working with an insurance broker (happy to DM you the one i utilize) and they can shop for the best one for your rental. 

The Short Term Shop operates here and would love to help!

Box A is direct lender charges, box B are things the lender is making you get that you cannot shop for (for instance, the appraisal or credit report), and box C is closing costs that you can shop/control- Lenders can move things around between boxes A and B to change the way costs appear.

It might be a good time to shop the coverage with several independent agents

You can start to shop for lenders at anytime.

We of course went to a three day work shop.

I also recently found out about Latte and Lease's Out of State Investor Academy's "Cash Flow Coffee" meetup, which I believe can be accessed via her email list or her website: https://www.lattesandleases.com/shop/p/bay-area-meet-up-g9ny...