Does anyone have an opinion on the best way to obtain your local market stats and trends (average: Price/sqft, sales price, rent to price etc.)?

Find a local lender right away and get with your builder too.  

@David Bridgman You may want to check with local mobile home dealerships and other mobile home park managers and/or owners in the area.

Hey Mary I’m a local investor in the Piedmont Triad area(Winston Salem, Greensboro and High Point).

Real estate is local, and Placer County is doing pretty well.

The method for calculating property tax amounts for rental properties can vary depending on local tax regulations and practices.

I haven't really heard about investing in the area, haven't found any local realtors or lenders that are "investor friendly," and I'm not sure I have enough equity (or cash) to finance a brrrr (or similar project). 

Bring in a local investor who can JV or help you with your first couple or give them the deal and learn from it.

Go to local meetups in your city, be active in the BiggerPockets forums, network on BiggerPockets and LinkedIn.

The key highlights of this slate of bills includesAdditional Excise Tax on STRCreation of a statewide STR registryStandardize safety requirements across the stateProtect the ability for local government to zone STR in accordance with their needsThis isn't the first attempt at statewide regulation, and its clear the bills as written would be operationally burdensome to put into place for the state (aka, expensive) and the problems they are trying to solve are not, in all, a result of STR in our communities but of bad tax laws already in existence.