All the others you mentioned are great as well, and are other sources I've utilized.  

It always does well.

Other good strategies, are targeting tired landlords (absentee, owned 10+ years) or drive around and find distressed properties, and call the owner from the records you find on TruePeopleSearch.comAnother method if you want to stay on market would be to send offers that are well under asking price for properties listed 60 days or more.  

We at Aslan would be happy to help you through this process as well so feel free to reach out if there are any inquiries. 

I am in it for the long term as well for the next generations. 

One of my colleagues invests near Yosemite and Lake Tahoe and seems to be doing quite well.

Just make sure that the new property can cover the HELOC payments as well as its own mortgage.

thanks for your time and help rent to retirement works directly with build to rent developers like us around the country once they are framed up. you are buying properties pretty much at market value but with a hand holding. you can work directly with a builder or directly with them. they are just an intermediary. they take 5% on what we make as a builder but have a large list of investors and a systemized approach to selling new builds. if you want to get a better deal I'd recommend directly contacting builders and building it yourself. fly to the market. spend 2 days, tour new builds, get a feeling for how it's going. if your builder isn't building multiple at a time then I wouldn't recommend working with them. rent to retirement is a well oiled and well run machine. they've had their ups and downs with dozens of transactions in florida but modified their process. they are well known and established and transparent. if you have a more specific market and feel confident in your ability to vet deals try it out. happy to talk more my info is in my signature. we work directly with them to sell new builds and no organization is perfect but I have good things to say about them as a builder and potential build to rent developer that sells build to rent triplexes and single family homes through them to end buyers in California like the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego 

Property managers and agents can be really helpful as well as they’ll give you insight into the market and could have some opportunities for you down the road.In the meantime, try researching the areas you're interested in.

I would just be more cautious about the area you invest in and see what other investor experiences have been in the area you do decide to invest in as well.