I think that you can be successful investing in retail if you choose to focus all of your efforts and knowledge in this vertical.  

Its always good to see fellow new investors taking the effort and introducing themselves!

They sell these in different manners.You should be able to find deals in coastal counties on properties not near water.If lien is not redeemed after 12 months the county will mail you the deed not extra effort on your part.That is why SC is in the top 5 best states in the country to buy tax liens.

Find a niche and focus your efforts on marketing to that niche. 

There are some general guidelines that will genuinely help you to put your strategy in place and maintain the momentum effectively.1) A great content bank and dedicated content creatorsAll the efforts of creating a good marketing strategy go in vain if you do not give the desired attention to your content bank and fail to hire someone who is a seasoned professional in content creation.

I have been doing a lot of reading so far - books, forums, blogs and I have a LOT of questions :) Hoping this awesome community can help me kick start my efforts.

@Ray Reed Your advice saved me so much time and effort.

It's that simple...doing all this takes a lot of effort initially, but it all becomes 2nd nature. 

Are there global hard money lenders?

My only advice to you is be careful and apply the same intellectual rigor to your efforts that you do your profession.