How about getting nominations from local charity organizations ?

@Aaron Araujo You can take your information, organize it:What you've got.What you need.What you'll do with it.Go to your Registry of Deeds and befriend a Title Searcher.

This led me to looking at bank owned properties for around 10,000 to 15,000 however every single one (even though fixed up nicely each would only be worth 35,000-40,000) had something seriously wrong with it from mold infestation to a giant hole in the ceiling to literally being condemned due to foundation issues.

It's organized by @Guy Gimenez

Xavier Wharton , plenty of non-real estate books on the topic and lots of research from Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, etc.However, the content is geared towards managing larger organizations/corporations and I used to read them when I had oversight of 600 people in corporate America.

Hi All, I am in the process or re-organizing my part-time real estate operation into a full time business.  

I'm using one right now since I live 4 hours away (am managing the properties myself), but they aren't the most reliable or organized. 

You might want to look at the New York Passive House organization.

I have a semi-organized plan, but before I invest a significant amount of time and money I was wondering how many here have actually used either lease options, master lease options or seller financing in the Dodd-Frank era?

But have you a way to manage the organization of tasks and you should have that in place before you get started.