Its not easy but not rocket science either. 

Fascinating thread, thank you :) While I prefer to work with the one great agent (or buyers' agent), simply because a single point of contact per area is easier to manage - realistically in 9 areas out of 10 that ends up being impossible - the best deals are like well-hidden gems in the dirt, takes a lot of digging by a lot of people, in the cities at least.Rural areas are an exception - there you'll often find the one dominant agent in perfect synch with their area, and you needn't go further.

You've got it down to science Rick L. an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure when dealing with tenants

Its not rocket science, and not something you do once and you're done.

My thoughts are below, but it would seem this is more of an art than a science.

If the seller is elderly a note can be a smart estate planning tool as a note will be discounted to its market value in the determination of assets and, if not marketable, may be exempt from calculations.Selling a SF deal can become much broader than just showing it as a RE deal, with some personal or commercial financial planning knowledge and understanding some estate issues you can present a SF deal as the very best way to sale a property.While it takes some effort to learn these other financial aspects it's not rocket science and then you can enter areas of creative financing to fit the needs of a seller.When do you bring up SF?

Good comps are nearly irrefutable so if you have good comps and a decent lender to negotiate value using appraisers formulas for determining value you can almost always get the appraiser to come up or meet you near where "value," should be.This is where the science of appraisal meets the arts of persuasion. 

I find it fascinating a different way for others to make money and yet as a buyer I can secure great profits.

I have a few books ordered from Amazon, (namely Never Split The Difference  by Chris Voss, Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller, The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No and Low Money Down by the one and only Brandon Turner , and also Make It Stick- The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C Roediger and Henry L McDaniel) I'm looking forward to these books.

As a new investor who recently moved to this area, I'm fascinated to see where investor friendly deals are occurring.