Jobs drive the economy. 

First I wasn't thinking I would drive around to find distressed properties which I found to be ineffective.

I barely get a chance to drive by the property before it is gone.Does anyone have any tips for swooping in and getting an offer in?

I am going to start a significant remodel of my house in Santa Monica and wanted to maximize all possible rebates, grants or energy rebates that are available for new roofs, windows, appliances, insulation, landscaping..ect.I have a basic list (local municipality and appliance rebates) but didn't know if there was anything that I was missing or didn't know about...possibly other agencies?

I'm a bit discouraged because, as a beginning investor, I was hoping to use basic financing methods (read: conventional loan) to obtain my first property, but that is beginning to seem like it isn't an option. 

Ideally, I would like to track finances on each property in my portfolio, focusing on income, expenses, cash flow, bills, and basic tracking to make end of year taxes easier.Thank you for your help

@Michael Duncan I wake up at 6:30am PST, I make my coffee and then drive to a neighborhood my dog and I will walk.

For now, I'm focusing on wholesale to help save up money to fund my first flip.From the research I have done I've pretty much come to the conclusion that I need to start my business or form a LLC (of course for a name, website, flyers, etc.) and to start putting in crazy amounts of leg work like driving for dollars and getting some leads together and started up in order to put together a profile to find potential cash buyers..Is there any advice you could give me that would help out with the beginning stages of starting up my wholesale business?

The CPA you spoke to was right, there are tremendous tax benefits for what the IRS calls "real estate professionals" The basic criteria is twofold: 1) you must engage more that half of your 'working' time in real estate related activities. 2) You must spend at least 750 hours involved in RE.What is considered real estate involvement?

You're basically telling investors to adjust their pricing strategy so you (the lender) are less likely to make a mistake.