if you find a property that you think might belong to a motivated seller, how do you find out who owns it and how do you get in touch with them to see if it's for sale and start negotiating?

And he's already said he's negotiable on the downpayment.

The bank will not negotiate with you directly.

Option #1 will most likely meet that criteria, you can price for any major repairs/cap x improvements and negotiate those during the acquisition, this will help you hedge against major items breaking down once you acquired.   

Also commercial loan is very much negotiable ... 

In addition, you don't have a professional to help you negotiate. 

I am available in private PM if needed.PS. make sure that you negotiate down to 2pts and 12% on the HML.

Also the current owners are struggling to sell so in my case I was able to negotiate full owner financing (4.5%, 30y amortized, 30% down, 10 year balloon). 

I am curious to see if the flippers here think it is worth it to make sure everything is done right to avoid wasting time negotiating credits in escrow or if you think you should do what you can to limit expenses?

In addition, if you own an office building, you will be negotiating against lots of very experienced people sitting on the other side of the table from you.