Rod, best of luck with your investing endeavors!

@Morris,how do (did) you find a reputable skip tracer, there are so many online to choose from.Going to the County ROD is a good idea, but they would only have the last address that the property owner provided.

You can go buy a Garcia reel and get a custom rod, buy out Bass Pro's bait department and get a 42' Grand Banks trawler and sit at home and study techniques, fishing holes, and run pro forma income and expense projections for months and starve.

First American, Stewart title and others will NOT insure quit claims anymore.

Curtain rods, door hardware, etc Thursday.

There are also a few others I've looked into such as Rod Khleiff's, Sunrise Capital Investors (Mobil Home Parks), Origin Investments, and Western Wealth Capital. 

Frank Gallinelli's "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow"Rod Khleif's "Lifetime Cash Flow Through Multifamily Properties" a pdf available via his website.

Go to Lowes, buy a ground rod, drive it in, buy some ground wire and fish it to your box and install a GFI box and keep your fingers crossed, at least that outlet would be grounded, but you can't ground the old panel as they do new ones.I would not ground electrical to a water pipe, especially in an electrical storm while sitting in the bath tub.Another option might be to ask the electrician why he suggested a false ground that isn't to code and if he'd really want to bet his license on that fix.

If you are buying with cash at steep discounts like @Darron Stewart, the returns on your capital make sense.  

Rod