The old money is not generating any returns at the moment.

I am a mechanical engineer by trade and want to generate alternative cash streams.  

If this process is less than worth it, what recommendations do you have to help me generate the capital needed to get my first flip under my belt?

For example, I pay $2,500 for 1/3 of 1 medium sized zip code (so that one average zip code is generating around $7,500/year).Therefore, if Realtors go away, they lose almost all of their revenue and their free access to highly accurate listing data.Will their be disruption over the next 10 years - absolutely.

@Bhavna Chopra Honestly with a budget like 500k you should buy a small apartment building 20+ units out of state somewhere or invest in 10 50k properties that would together generate a large monthly cash flow that you can use later on the fund more deals.

Let say you generated 30k before the foreclosure is finalized.  

I know that the commercial sites don't generally allow you to resell their data, but I generate my own data from public sources (eg: government web-sites).I use the data personally to assess the market, generate trends/leads, etc, but I was thinking the other day that other people might be interested in the data.Thanks!

., a much better looking way of generating a "wholesale fee").

To me, its a combination of the two items - the LTV you're getting all-in at and the cash flow the house will be generating.

The relationship, the probing for info, and determining fit is a huge deal, but it means you have to be "ON" all the time...and unless you're doing it all the time I think some people grow complacent and forget that answering the phone is the only way to generate that big ROI we're all looking for!