It helps handle all the "back of the envelope" calculations a head of time for all listings within 50 miles of your city.

I'd imagine there isn't enough time to get a conventional loan approved for the property before the auction date?

Ok I will check those websites out, Thank you.There's a variety of ways to get a deal in front of you (I'm mostly a flipper), but basically if it looks promising, I run custom comps queries and check the current & past $/sf of renovated/distressed product in that city or zipcode.Here's a chart on 90066 I generated from my tool under Market Stats > Sales Data > Specific Zip Code:- My above chart (more available) shows the Avg Renovated $/sf (High) over time in this Zip Code, something completely different than charts/providers based on Averages/Medians only, like every other platform (RedFin Below, https://www.redfin.com/news/data-center/):- Can't select smaller locations such as City or Zipcode for their $/sf data, so it's useless helping me underwrite/verify a deal.- Can set Zip Code for Median Sale Price data, but again it's the median/avg so it's useless helping me underwrite/verify a deal.Then if that looks decent, I'll run Sales Comps, and get a quick summary of some key metrics based on those comps.

MF is still, and will always be very attractive, but most trade off-market and requires a huge time investment to build relationships with current owners.

When is the best time to start incorporating these professionals during the journey? 

When it comes time to actually invest, you will typically be required to show some sort of verification - either a signed financial statement if you meet the requirement on net worth, or income tax returns if you meet the requirement on income.  

Hi –I'm gearing up to rent out my SFH for the first time in the next few months, and just trying to get everything in order ahead of time.

I'm waiting until i get more capital and cash reserves to have for when i do purchase, so in the mean time ive been looking briefly on the property's my real estate agent has been sending me. essentially i was wondering what should i be doing while I'm waiting and working towards my first purchase.

There is a forum on LinkedIn:  Distressed 2nd Mortgages GroupI haven't spent too much time in that group but it appears to be what you are looking for regardless of the name of the group.

My day job is very time consuming and I wanted a way to get into real estate investing that I could do on the side.