Those are great ideas, unfortunately I live in New York City, which really precludes pretty much anything in my immediate geographic area.About the closest that I've been to find similar deals like these is the eastern edge of Pennsylvania, in towns like Scranton or Allentown.  

Search the site in the upper right corner to see where your closest meetup is. 

The closest thing I can find is regarding Licensure classes, but this specifically refers to doing business as a broker, not holding property within an LLC to rent, or owning an investment company.

I would think that those with creditors calling, who can't afford to eat steaks and lobster would be hungry enough to be motivated to get out of the poorhouse.

  I ordered a book lately on RE investing from Amazon, and the guru started out with the typical hype, selling the sizzle and not the steak.  

Just look up the office closest to your 4plex and contact them since they will likely want to do an exterior inspection at minimum.

(He stated the county assessed it for ~$1M, but I found the closest matching parcel to what he described at less than $870k.)

My fear is that it would be wasted money and effort if the buyer will likely knock out the adjoining wall of the closest to make an ensuite.Any thoughts would be much appreciated! 

My closest property is 2200 miles away from me.

The closest comparable comps in the area were around that 150,000-160,000 range.