This is the best buying market ever...!

No Kidding, you can create your financial future in todays market-if you buy right.  More and more sellers are in over their heads and will compromise their equity to save their lifestyle or move on.  

If they want to save their lifestyle you can pick up significant equity but not by making them a loan or making them tenents.

 For the owner that has significant equity you can offer to give them money upfront for an option to purchase their house.  Now, you dont need to deal with tenents, management or maintenance.  You lock in a price today and give them money today for a sale in the future- (as far out as possible).  In many cases you dont have to give them a lot of money up fornt at all.  You see, if its the lifestyle theyre trying to save, they need money every month.  So create an agreement that allows you to subsidize their lifestyle each month.  It could be 100, 200, 500 dollars or more a month in a set period of time.  This allows you to buy equity cheap and on terms.

Ive actually taken it a step further and have bought a 50% interest in their property and with an agreement that they can stay foreverand when they sell-we split the proceeds.  This gives you the benefit of the mortgage paydown (amortization), future appreciation plus your discounted purchase of equity upfront.  This doesnt help you to create current cash flow, unless you sell your position to another investor, but it sure provides a safe long term investment.

seller held financing is the #1 way to avoid dealing with lenders and creating workable solutions for sellers that want to sell- fast.  In the last three months weve acquired numerous properties with seller held financing at zero interest.  This my friend is a sure fire way to create a positive cash flow and massive equity build up.  Believe me, acquiring the skills to negotiate these transactions is money in the bank.  Better than that its money for your future without the banks.