It would not be too defensive about this but get a loan Pre-qualification letter from a lender and have it state how long it will take to make a closing and a maximum amount. 

I think it is a great idea to present a couple of different options to sellers, one of which could include offering a few thousand dollars down and pay the remainder of the purchase price over time, with agreed-upon terms like length of loan, interest rate, amortization, balloon payments (if necessary).

You ought to get a pre-approval letter from your lender that has the number of days they need to close your loan and the maximum loan amount.  

Then I use that data to start sending out my letters to them.

Heres what i did, and i could have took the long way and i havent had any deals yet but ill break down my trial and error and the method i feel will work best for me.first, i searched zillow for homes that are selling for low cost, found the owners and mailed yellow letters of course-the problem with this is, a lot of these homes still have loans on them and probably bank owned already, the owner still lives there, theres already a realtor on the job, just way too many obstacles, i dont expect to get any calls from those letters but you have to start somewhere.next, i started searching on auction sites for homes that did not go up for auction yet or the auction expired-again, the problem with this is the homes are 9/10 bank owned. while some of them are foreclosures theres still extra loops to jump through.I considered buying lists of vacant homes and stuff but i am the most frugal person you will ever meet lol, its not that i cant afford to buy a list, its just that i know theres a different way and plus whoever made those list had to have someone else generating that list for them.

October is right around the corner, time for those Hot Air Balloons!

Willie Webb Jim Carson I forgot to mention that I'm actively mailing letters to buy lots in Lehigh Acres and also to buy and hold SFH with creative financing.

I also have a list of free and clear owners that I have mailed about 400 letters to.  

Meaning, send a letter to everyone involved in this property of intent to refuse to sell, or hire a building inspector to find faults, or other such actions to delay or prevent a sale?

Send them a letter (not yellow letter because they are getting dozens of them) telling them you found their house to be apparently vacant.