You can't pay a few bucks for a list of all people in your area that are behind on their taxes, behind on their mortgage, recently inherited a property, own a house that they don't live in, own a house that they have no mortgage on, are continually fined by the Cities for bylaw infractions, etc etc etc etc etc... all of the tools that American wholesalers use are not available to you.With that said, you CAN wholesale here.

If they are not willing to do a few minor steps that not only helps you but helps them clean up their financing and enjoy the american dream of home-ownership then move onto the next person.

I could see the police responding if there is some specific criminal activity in progress that they need to deal with, but it's not likely the police are going to go house shopping with you - even if it is in a rough neighborhood. 

Most buyers are shopping online, and therefore you should be marketing the best representation of the property.

For example, let's say you pick X city to set up shop. 

watch the American Greed espisode with Remmington financial these guys were the masters of this DD and lending fraud schemes..  

I've also got one property where I have talked to over a dozen lenders and I'm still debt shopping. - Find a mortgage broker and they will check with a bunch of different lenders.

I've long complained about how the American judicial system is more about punishment than rehabilitation.

I have an idea that could make you pocket you some quick dough in our tech driven info age:Develop an app for finding absentee owners using someone on Fiverr or some techie in India for cheapCall it something snazzy like "Absentee Owner Gold"Market it like crazy online and make it available on Google Play and the Apple Store and anywhere else applicable for a cheap price like $1.99 with no refunds Have customer support via email or phone only in some foreign country where english is a fourth languageTech/info driven real estate investors buy it in drovesThey open the app and a message pops up "knock on some of the neighbors doors"Frustrated customers call/email customer support and get further frustrated by the inability to communicate with foreign customer service whose english is a fourth language but they string the customer along anyway thus buying you time to make more salesKeep it up for as long as it takes to make 6 or 7 figures Close up shop and disappear

It is really a one stop shop for all things management.