. , CPAs buy access to Tax Research services, and we find our research and answeres there. 

I've done my research, contacted wholesalers, gone to tax deed auctions.

the gurus sell the idea of wholesaling as easy and no money down but that couldn't be more wrong. there is no guarantee return on the money invested in marketing . a wholesaler needs to do a lot, a lot of research to the local market where they are trying to find deals. you need to not only find the deal but prove that it is one to a potential buyer/investor. now Im not trying to discourage you, there are plenty of ways of getting started without MUCH money down .you can get a few cards made at a copy/print shop. you can talk to people and let them know what your trying to do. you can build a social media platform which is free. remember as a wholesaler your simply trying to find the deal then sell it at a commission. a friend of mine that is an agent uses their title company  to find information on houses in my neighborhood,  become friends with agents!.

Best is to research an area before investing in it otherwise you are putting yourself at high risk and you don't want to make mistakes at the start of your investing journey that will leave you with a bad taste of real estate investing. 

Research these markets (i.e. why these are up and coming) and then apply those city characteristics to different cities that you and your significant other are more familiar with.

Resale value for a flip would have to be researched, connect with an agent on that to research comps (send me a message if you need a good agent to work with i can refer you to one). 

Before I spend too much time looking and researching in specific areas I want to make sure I'm not gonna run into any huge obstacles along the way.

At first, I was looking on the counties online public record but unfortunately I will have to search for individual addresses and after doing some more research I came across that is possible to get a listing through the MRIS.

Some of my research led me to believe that perhaps the joint purchase by a married couple (tax entity A) would disqualify me from the exchange, because the new purchase would be solely in my name (potentially tax entity B).2.

I came across this awesome site while researching real estate investing and the many different topics associated with it.