If a property of interest has a realtor sign in the front, do I contact the owner with a letter of intent or the Realtor with a letter of intent?

You can google "We Buy Houses in LI," call bandit signs if you see them, go on Craigslist and seek out ads who are looking for properties, or even post an ad stating you'd like to work with investors to bring them deals and locate investors that way. 

Just signed up for Metrolina.

I happened to see a sign on the side of the road that said, "Real Estate Investor assistant.

You may also be able to find Unhappy landlords by calling the For Rent BY OWNER signs on houses that look a bit rough around the edges -when you see that, you are probably going to be looking at a person who is not meant to be landlording, and is probably up to his/her ears in deadbeat tenants! 

I just signed up here recently, am very much in the learning phase (burning through all podcasts over the last couple weeks), and am excited to be here!

Just a guy interested in learning how to buy property to turn it into income property.

We were so close to closing I had no choice to sign and pay, but is this normal? 

.), scrubbing the public records for notice of defaults (a list you have to manually do as our county doesn't have the records online), bandit signs (but 3 wholesale players have entered our market and take down every sign we put up), door knocking (Which takes up too much time).

Direct mail, Bandit signs, social media; which have you had a better response with?