I work with a lot of investors here in the Berwyn/Brookfield area who use this strategy effectively.

However, if paid off, it would significantly dig into my savings, to the point it may or may not effect the upcoming primary residence purchase. 2.

Addressing the problems is like trying to put out small individual fires in a forest that is burning.

Personally, I just use tax records and just google the address.

I like the idea of preparing to buy 10 properties and then doing the snow ball effect from there. 

Otherwise there are probably less expensive and more effective ways to accomplish the same thing.

Utilities bills normally follow people but not address, right?

trulia.com - look at crime rates, street views of properties, GIS driven data for house values, previous price pointsrentometer.com - use free searches to determine average rent in an area based on the address and number of bedroomsIs the property generally rentable or sellable in that area?

@Calvin RankinIn some states the Real Estate Licensure laws have been changed to address the issue of wholesaling because in a lot of cases wholesalers do not know what they are doing.

@Ken Law your lease and/or state law should address abandonment.