The bigger players who have entire crews can manage this better than I can as a one-off customer of the contractors. 

I find it to be pretty easy to use and their customer service is always available to answer any questions.

Acquired over $5M in real estate - which includes the path of buying a duplex with my VA loan, a SFH 5 months later with a 1% down loan, a 4-plex with my VA loan 2 years later, built a custom dream home with an AirBnB suite, completed a horribly over budget BRRRR SFR, completed another SFR that went way over budget, sold my quad for a 4-unit office commercial space, sold my 4-plex for a luxury cabin in Oklahoma AND most recently bought a brand new home to use part time while visiting my girlfriend/future wife in Florida.All of this wouldn't have ever happened if my butt didn't get dumped.

I tend to be skeptical of the "motivated seller" approach to real estate investing popularized in the 1970's and 1980's now that the internet presents homeowners with thousands of real estate valuation sites. 

Being near the beltline, east of downtown, and midtown are generally the more popular areas. 

I've been dealing with the big box stores (Menards, Lowes, Home Depot*, Recker and Boerger) and literally every one of them has been a big pain at times to the point where I'm willing to pay more to get reasonable customer service.

The Woodlands is a desired area and popular for flips. 

I've found the best way to find customers is just put your services out there, especially on apps like Nextdoor, Facebook, and other local marketplaces.

I am currently in Florida looking for properties and I could use some tips on doing proper research to be able to provide correct and accurate data to my customers.

@Annett Annett Joshua Tree, Palm Desert and Yucca Valley are becoming popular for vacation rentals and should have less restrictions (for the time being).