I know of a potential deal in Los Alamos, where a home is being foreclosed on in a very desirable area.

שלום אחיתThere is a lot of research that needs to go into choosing a good market, especially if you are not here.

How many did you have to go through ?

Only once you’ve gotten the hang of conducting the painting and minor repairs that come in cosmetic projects will you want to go on to more advanced projects.

Zip LetterBetween that, and a unique list I should get a good amount of leads. ill just figure out how to go through these 17k unpaid taxes and figure out which ones are worth mailing to, any suggestions there?

@Ryland Tanaguchi's Meetups (Real Estate Wholesale) is a great place to go to meet people and ask questions.  

Not retiring soon, have about 30 years to go, but that timing works for riding out a mortgage :) will definitely need to get to know good property managers.

So it looks like asking for historical data is the way to go.

Here's where I think there is a work around: if you do a ton of research and find what homes have sold for in a desirable area 10, 20, 30 years ago and see that the value has consistently appreciated then it's probably safe to say it will continue to go up.

The offer depends on what your desired profit from the deal is and what your end goal for the property is (flip, wholesale, hold).