What is your tolerance level for not so nice areas?

The lender is eager to negotiate, they want the property off their hands.Being a Realtor, I've been in a lot of houses, nice and not so nice.

So nice that we are really interested in getting educated on buying more rental properties.

:-)Thats why BP is so nice.

A crooked seller could abuse the process, too, by not disclosing defects that he knows will be uncovered by the buyer, knowing full well the buyer will probably cancel the contract once the inspection items are discovered, yet the seller gets to keep the option money.

Your initial mailing may uncover a few leads, however, you will get more leads with time as long as you continue to target and mail that same list of leads on a consistent basis.  

So nice to hear from you Justin, Kyle, & Jacob!  

Just in the few days I have been here, I have received advice that otherwise would've probably taken me a month of hard research to uncover.

One fact that you uncover, example, the gasoline manufacturing plant next door, the rental properties that surround your property, etc.  

Doesn't mean you can't get a good deal but you probably won't be able to uncover the Seller's true motivation without a lot of work.