Mostly, I'm getting offers for a 5/1 ARM.  

@Anthony AndrewsFind the local REIAs and landlord association meetings great networking and possible people to work with.Go to IREM.org search for ARM certified property managers.

You can do this remotely if you have a team that you explicitly know and trust. 

I told him it was going to cause problems on down the road, and he assured me he had 'done this before' and 'had ways to deal with it'Our contract, which is already wordy, we altered to explicitly say we were not pulling permits and wouldn't be held accountable for the repercussions of it.

Frankly, you'll need to go to a real estate school to gain a better understanding of why owners are more of a protected class than a buyer, why we deal  at arm's length, in good faith, with an exchange of reasonable value within a value range under the  circumstance that exist, not caused by the superior dealer. 

Marketing strategies, employee requirements, compliance costs/requirements, software costs, training/education, insurance requirements, etc all are not within any model that you would use one another industry model...it is it's own animal, Without explicit insider knowledge of the escrow profession, it is usually a suicide mission to start up an escrow operation.

Arm yourself!

If you have the ability to buy it owner occupied and live in it for a short time (Typically 1 year minimum) then you have loan options where the down is as low as 3.5% or 0% if you are a veteran of the armed forces.

@Aaron AndersonAny of the local community banks might work, but they'll probably only offer an ARM product - likely 25 yr amm, ~4.5-5% interest.

If it can not be subdivided, then you are talking a commercial loan (assuming you not paying cash for everything, which means higher equity requirements, high loan rates, ARMS, etc, since you are over 4 units.