Current research leads me to think that the right angle is inadequate protection of the collateral by the owner (no insurance, continued decline, no evidence of effort to preserve or improve the collateral).

It could work, it might not, but the experience and wisdom gained coupled with the possibility of coming out way ahead make the efforts more than worth it.

The LLC does not have any employees, however, I applied and obtained an FEIN from the IRS in an effort to make every attempt at "keeping things separate."

would help if you delineated what your new to and what you need help with.but a good start for any beginner is the local REIA meetings they are full of beginners like you.mid stride folks and the one's who are doing very well who go there to find bird dogs and deals for little to no effort  LOL.And or if you really want in the business then go pay a few hundred bucks and get your RE pre license materials study take the test pass the test and go work for a broker who specializes in whatever aspect of real estate your interested in.. be in SFR  Multi  Commerical  leasing...

Is it worth my efforts to solicit in town owners?  

To educate yourself further, consider looking into 1031 exchanges; many investors have used this strategy to snowball their efforts every couple of years into larger buildings/more units. 

for my State Farm homeowners/rental dwelling ins to subrogate a claim for the damages not covered ($20,000) and my $2500 deductible.So it sounds like FIRST effort will be to have my attorney send them a polite letter with the costs incurred and a request for their response and reimbursement.Then if no appropriate response. we go to whatever is the next court "bigger than small claims court " with a lawsuit.We just got word from the mediation crewthat huge amounts of mold are in the crawlspace, evidently the days/weeks of thousands of gallons of water went under the house instead of outside and down the driveway.

In an effort to clean up the forums, we're creating an FAQ Forum, where the most-asked questions will be prominently featured, along with some really great answers.I need your help!

You named some,,, driving and researching vacant land against property records, out of area owners, direct mail efforts and delinquent property taxes are a big producer for me.....And of course, checking for utility availability and existence is key factor!

Russell Brazil I'm new here with two maybe three posts, but I can assure you I'm no stranger to these forums or my personal favorite the weekly podcast.I have to say I really appreciate the time, energy and effort you and the other members like yourself commit to answering people's questions and provide them with feedback on various topics surrounding REIIf I had to look back over the last 4 months I have seen a post or a reply from you almost every time I have opened the app.