It can be $100 to $500 an hour or more (New York ;-) Anyway, you need a basic attorney service (closings, reading contracts, advice) so it should be on the low end for your area.

A family member is a foreign person (foreign national living outside the US) and he owns real-estate in New York City.

City codes prevent me from, say, converting a house garage into a dance/commercial video studio. -- Short/medium term low cost of living and long term passive income.--  Pursue art full time within the next 3-7 years. 

After you have owner's first, last, address, city, and state in their own columns you'll be ready to run a batch skip trace and get everyone's numbers.

Then find "boots on the ground in SJ" who know the city ... in the interim, feel free to bounce any seriously considered deals off me.As a long-distance investor, I would strongly recommend you stay away from Indian Town (North end) .. there are a lot of "cheap" buildings there, but the prospects for the area are muted.

I ask because I talked to a realtor form my area and was told there are none in our area and I’d have to travel north or south to the cities to find them.

I am a fellow investor in the city of Chicago! 

I have read different requirements in different City PDFs.

I recommend Esen Edip of Kensington Vanguard in New York City. 

@Cody Stone What cities or counties do you think are booming for a virtual wholesaling.