My friends call me Dee.I own and operate a Pro Se Coaching & Training service here in Cleveland and have enjoyed it for about 14 years now.  

One doesn't need to take mandatory ethics training every 4 years to maintain their car salesman license.

Make sure you get approval for anything from the brokerage first.The state real estate commissions see licensees as professionally trained in contracts and held to a higher standard than ( joe blow ) investor off the street.

You may find some people there.Lastly, you can put a keyword notification on here so that you'll be notified when anyone mentions your location.If you send me a PM, I'd be happy to share a free no pitch training with you.Hope this helps!

Driving around I came across a few properties with online auction signs not active on the MLS. 

Any strategies, don't have much gas to drive for dollars much less drive to those counties.

I did pretty well with multifamily homes within 10 mins drive to the beach.

But, since you don't know much about real estate you'll wan tot go with a broker who offers you lots of training so you can learn the business. 

It's challenging at first as you develop "systems" and training your tenants, but I'm starting to get out of the weeds now. 

One thing I would advise is renting a car and spending your last day driving back through the area for a second glance and driving up and down several streets.