My approach is probably fairly unique in that if the homeowner wants to keep the house and would traditionally not be able to, I point them in the direction of their equitable remedies and have had success helping folks keep their house and work out a sweet deal with the finance company to boot; I've retained a minority equity stake in the properties as a result.In the case where it's a non-owner occupied property and the investor no longer wants the headache, I negotiate either an acquisition in trust of the LLC/Corporation that is holding the deed, or have the deed quit claimed to me individually.

I've learned that a little bit of naivety is good because otherwise an individual may never take the leap if they possessed all the knowledge and truly knew how much risks are involved.

And, their money does indeed come from private individuals.True private money, which is what most folks who post here asking for private money mean, is an individual you know personally who's willing to invest in you.  

If your property offers an individual the best deal for the price, she will rent from you.

They then sold the houses individually often owner financing and selling the notes to me at a discount.  

Especially when factoring in commercial spaces.One aspect of the deal I'd consider, is whether you can individually parcel the commercial spaces and sell them to the businesses.

We can also provide reports on revenue and occupancy for individual homes.

Now, I would of course be vetting buyers and making sure whoever purchases the deal has a solid track record and is a trustworthy individual/company first, but things happen.

For example, an individual buys a residential property as a 1031 replacement.

The thing about RE that I like is my ability to control the individual deal.