@Jay Hinrichs - I'm not sure if you'd call it traditional flipping but there are streets near me in East Memphis where older homes are being razed and huge, modern homes taking their place.  

It's unlikely traditional lenders will do that, so you may need to ask friends and family for financing.A HELOC is a pretty good idea, presuming it's already in place. 

It seems to me there are a lot of people that would like to get into flipping but many of these houses aren't able to qualify for traditional financing and also have too many unknowns.

You may be able to get a lower bid through the traditional process.

Any tips on finding homes outside the traditional MLS, Zillow, Craigslist, and Bandit sign way?

But the PMI goes away if you refinance to a traditional.

I personally would probably want to make sure that at least X% of them could/would also make sense as a traditional rental.

I have a lot more learning and searching to do before this can become a reality for me but the potential to bring in 2x and 3x your mortgage and increasing that cash flow over a more traditional long term rent is intriguing.

Will the traditional WE BUY HOUSES verbiage work or does something else convert better?

If you are trying to do a "traditional" wholesale method where you lock up a property and then assign it to someone else, taking either an assignment fee or the difference between the two contract prices, your local Realtors association may not think you have your client's best interest in mind.