As for the legal, rules, guidelines side of things, I believe the only thing you need to do is have a solid formal agreement in place that would be used to loan money and/or record a mortgage/lien on a specific piece of property. 

@Ryan Dossey  If you approach someone who has lived in a house for thirty years who heard of the RE crash and thinks their property is not worth much and you play on that to get a lower price then you might be on the border of theft, morally if not legally.

You might think about doing a different color border instead.

has an excellent point - regardless of what the quoted rate is, there is no lock on that rate until you actually proceed with a formal loan application.  

I figured the formal education would help me understand the bigger picture while also learning to be a creative real estate investor as well.  

It seems to be a formality for the most part. 

I live on the border of Denver and Lincolnton on Hwy 150.

You're welcome @Lisa Perez PM me if you're still interested and I'll put you in touch with my accountants who specialize in cross-border accounting. 

Anyway, try searching above (and other places) for "Skip Tracing" that is the formal name to what you are trying to do.  

I have formally submitted an offer on one of the two homes.