@Douglas Rosenthal hire an experienced PMC.You're penny-pinching, so you won't do that and it may eventually cost you dollars.But, since you asked: advertise on GoSection8.com website.

It’s the market price for a quick sale in its current condition with a certain amount of advertising.

I'm local to the Chicago market and would love to help out.

In the meantime, connect with local investors to see what has worked for them regarding house hack deals. 

The most basic way of looking at this is that they serve to protect consumers from misleading advertising, scams, etc.

If you're seeing more price points that are higher than the norm typically it means that either the market is shifting gradually up or that there's multiple people involved in that deal "chain" before it gets to you and everyone is adding their markup.My advice would be to attend a few local meetups to brush shoulders with other investors to pick their brain about whats working in your market AND to start marketing direct to sellers instead of trying to get the deals from wholesalers. 

The internet, gurus-advertising constantly in reels feeds, and TV shows has killed this industry. 

Local or national groups could be a good option.

Hello, I'm looking to purchase properties in my local area (Volusia County, Florida) with the goal of Fix and Flip, or BRRRR, should I work with a realtor or buy directly from a wholesaler?

Network as well and go to local real estate meet ups.For funding: you can HELOC, find a private lender to lend you 20% down, find a capital partner, or just live below your means for a little while and save till you have the 20% down (can go higher or lower than 20%, but 20% is generally required for fix&flips & BRRRR loans if not going conventional).