My question is, is it a better strategy to hire an agent to find a great deal, use online resources such as zillow or trulia, or perhaps seek out off market properties via driving for dollars/etc.?

You don't have to stay, but go there and drive around for a couple of days.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...The 2 big pieces are ADR and occupancy which drives your overall revenue and then limiting Op ex just like any other business. 

Stay warm and drive safely out there this weekend!

I’ve been driving for dollars and trying to calculate offers.

If you find a GC to work with consistently there's a chance that you can streamline procedures and drive down cost organically

You could have just as easily had to drive out to watch  your kid up at a baseball game or slipped or cut your hand and had to go to the ER for half the day or a host of over life hAppenings .

should be tons of them in your area, just drive the parks and you should be able to find people all ready working in those parks good luck @Brittany Valrie

This process is driving me crazy in a good way and I know that when I am stuck I can always come to these forums for some advice.

Reduce overhead: stop eating out, move somewhere cheaper, drive a terrible car, cut cable, sell your TV, etcMake more money: get a job promotion, work overtime, flip homes, deliver pizza, etcDetermine what is your highest dollar producing activity and do it as much as possible.