Just to browse commercial properties in general, I use reonomy (I'm not affiliated with them in any form of fashion).

Hey @Jace ThorntonWell, to answer your question, the best way to get in touch with the owner depends on how many/what you found when you looked up the tax info.If there aren't a ton and they're owner occupied, I'd say go try your hand at some good ole fashion door knocking.If there are a ton, or a good amount that are non owner occupied, I'd recommend reaching them through either cold calls or direct mailers.

Think of it in a logical fashion and try not to get emotional, even though I know it is difficult.

For international and CA investors it's like a fashion.

They have their systems, tools and resources and operate in machine like fashion which is what everyone aspires to do yet so few actually accomplish.   

At least this ties you and the lender together in some fashion and lets the seller know you have his backing so yes, to answer you directly, this is what my letter of pre-approval (letter of intent) accomplishes for my clients.I will gladly share my boiler plate pre-approval to you with redacted client info.

Most of the landlords that I run across on BP run their properties in a similar fashion to a professionally managed property, but I deal with landlords all of the time that are constantly dealing with headaches and liabilities that could have been avoided if they had the proper systems in place.As far as dependency on a PM...

There's also nothing wrong with a good old fashioned negotiation either.

When I went to school at IUB, there was a stretch of a street on either side that was everything but demolished on either side. 1 owner for all of it (and this may have been a possible city project) but a LOT of houses were redone and redesigned in similar fashion of each other and I know the values went up (worst block in an area of better blocks).

I also have the opportunity to pull money out of these properties with a HELOC or other similiar fashion.