I have brokers lining up some pre-approvals but wanted to see if anyone has had some local success with conventional financing or some type of rehab based loans. 

You came to the best possible place to grow your network and knowledge base before your first property.I'd recommend checking out local meetups, BP webinars, and BP books.

We are very familiar with the local markets, have the lender & real estate connections etc. 

If your looking for distressed properties in which you can add value I would start going to your local REIs and start networking.

Regarding local versus remote, I went through the same thought process.

We'll have a guest speaker, VP of commercial and multifamily lending at a local community bank, joining us and will be speaking on all things leverage.  

I called my local city court clerk and they did not have it and said I needed to try the county clerk (which is the superior court where I went in person)I have heard you can go to the “local court of the clerk” and obtain this list that details all properties in pre-foreclosure Does anyone know where I can go to get this list? 

Since I will now be a local landlord of 4 doors I wanted to take over management myself - self manage to save money and have more control.I will use Zillow and FB marketplace to advertise vacancies.

I then check to see if there are any local laws that limit the number of STR rentals in the municipality.

Are there any local land brokers that come recommended?