(If you don't like what you see, just add random city names to the search to get fresh results.) 

A lady at my church, most of her family does something with real estate so I'll have to take one of them out to lunch and pick their brain since I have an idea of what to ask

I would pick a niche to start.  

And I will definitely leave my credit card at home when the guru's are pitching...Ill use it to pick up the book you recommended instead!

@Chadd Naugle and @Mindy Jensen I'm going to have to pick up J's book and get after it tonight.

the comm. taxes are higher but you can fight those down sometimes when you convert to residential ... confirm this before you jump here... also look for a multifamily designation on a single family home...a ranch with a basement or crawlspace where you can turn it into a duplex... here i can go on city zoning maps and pick out the areas with multifamily zoning and focus in those areas.... lastly if you see a building in an area you like look up the owners on the assessor's site and mail a letter to them and ask if you could buy it.   

I know this list is pretty random but after doing research the economies there look promising however have only done a little searching on the rental rate to purchase price ratio.

Say the total cost to pick up a **** condo and rehab it from start to finish is 50,000. 40,000 is his and 10,000 is mine.

you can pick the subjects of interest and it will show you all the local events close to you. 

Great way to pick up some good info and possibly a deal.