I scour the credit report for payment history and for previous addresses.

I've been scouring the auctions, short sale/REO listings on MLS, using realtor contacts, etc. it seems like Southern California is flooded with buy/hold investors who are wayyyyy overpaying and leaving no margin for profit.

You have to scour for them.

I don't know what your criteria is, specifically, but I do know that one of the first things they teach new agents is to scour expired listings for motivated sellers and try to be the one to re-list the property as that is usually when it sells if it wasn't priced right the first time.

Here is the wholesaling forum if you haven't already scoured it:http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/93-wholesaling

By night, I'm scouring the net looking for my first buy and hold rental property (and my second and my third...).

After countless hours of scouring the internet for answers on real estate investing this seemed like the place to check out.

You give much hope to the individuals who are just starting out just like you, who are spending day and night scouring the pages of bigger pockets looking for answers.

Aside from scouring the site to learn everything you can, I suggest you go on Amazon and buy all the books you can on real estate investing that have good reviews.

I treat finding a car the same way as real estate ie. scouring auction data and searching craigslist across the country to find the best deals and prices.