Some foreclosures post on auction sites, some are in-person through the county.

I have been looking around on Bigger pockets for a month or so and do not see a ton of activity in my area (I might not be looking in the right areas of the site).

Marketing wise, is direct mail still viable in 2018, or is web based marketing targeting seller owned properties a better bet?

You never know what deals you can put together with the connections you make on the site of BP or at the Meetups, it all comes down to building relationships. 

LinkedIn could also be a good site to get the word out although you might get spammed by brokers trying to list it for you.

Hello all investors large and small, I am here on this awesome site to start my RE journey by listening to the great podcasrs and reading through the forums daily.

Don't you think that adding an identifier like that would be good for the website though, in case that is what people are looking for? 

I was at a yard sale recently (I always keep my ears open at yard sales) and the owner starts telling me about this website...

Hello @Jesse Hopcus,During our conversation a couple of weeks ago I forgot to mention as to where I get my free probate leads.Here's the website: https://adtech.dailyjournal.com/legalAds/Is use this website for new probate leads for San Francisco and Sacramento counties.

Utilities are generally public and you can call them to get averages, taxes are public as well and can be pulled either from a assessor website or at their office, insurance companies can give you cash value and replacement value quotes by giving them an address, general rule for running calculations for vacancy is 5-10% of gross income, I have seen maintenance expenses all over the map (anywhere from $300-750 or a % of the rent - those vary depending on the number of doors in the deal as well as how much deferred maintenance has to be dealt with or how much rehab you are going to do to negate the deferred maintenance), contracted services, call a few landscapers and get quotes and use those for your analysis.