Seriously though I bet you could do a cattle call and sift through to find someone awesome.

Hire a $10/hr admin to sift through all your project budgets and house sq footage to create a report.

I could fill books on all the deals that fell apart or "almost" happened.And finally you have to be pretty disciplined to be able to tell a deal from a non-deal, and after sifting through many lumps of coal, to resist the temptation to fudge the #s and try to make a non-deal into a deal when it really isn't one.I would recommend networking with other local investors especially at a local real estate group here in Rhode Island or southern Mass, especially those who have any experience wholesaling, and of course also anyone who might be a bona fide cash buyer :)

I know that's a lot of questions, but once you answer those, the amount of information you will need to sift through will be greatly diminished.

If you wanted to learn how to buy a rental property, flip a house, or whatever.... would you want to spend the next 6 months sifting through thousands of YouTube videos, books, podcasts, and blog posts (and then trying your best to piece together the overload of information in your mind)?

It is after sifting through reams of uncertain securities laws and understanding how these influence the various business models.  

you could look for opportunities with reverse mortgages in default (backwards marketing) and tax defaulted property (the last group can be difficult to sift and sort due to large quantities).In the end, you’ll do much better focusing on solving problems that others cannot or are not willing to solve (hoarding, squatters, liquidity, defective title, skips, etc.).BTW, I started with working foreclosures (1978) and then deceased owner and title-impaired property about (35) years ago and have closed several thousand deals to date.  

Unfortunately, as said above, if you are going to be selective of your occupants then you are going to have to sift through a lot of folks.

That increases the chance your mail piece is seen as little to zero junk mail to sift through for the owner.4.

Just sift thru what you need and what applies.