Second, after I acquire my (hopefully free) list of pre-foreclosures, how do I get into contact with the owners?

I had a client recently used a 203K FHA loan to acquire a triplex. 

One thing I think I did learn yesterday is that based on my original calculation, putting the $250k toward the investment portion would result in taxable book on the mortgage payoff of $35,000 because no equivalent debt will be left on the investment portion (only the mortgage debt acquired to obtain the residential portion of our purchased property).

I could also move on to multi family so that more units are acquired per transaction but wonder how much of a different beast it is than SFH and if I'd have to start competing with institutions and folks who invest full time, are better resourced, and have creative financing options that I'm unaware of and/or are inaccessible to me.Thanks for making it all the way to the end!

That may just be considered a personal loan, unless the funds are used to acquire another investment property.

Good news is there's several ways and locations/markets to acquire your first rental in NJ.

my plan was to acquire cheaper properties in my area for around 50k  that I could rent out right away that had room to create value by adding more units  .

It means you would be purchasing the business (shares of an LLC are called membership interests) that owns the real state rather than the property itself.Sometimes you can avoid paying transfer taxes doing it this way... it depends where the property is located.Generally speaking, when you purchase a business this way you acquire its assets as well as its liabilities.

@Noah McPherson best way to find a trustworthy hml is to acquire a referral from a trustworthy person, as is the case for all vendors.

HelloI am acquiring multiple no-vacation single family homes in non-vacation/touristic markets, mostly in the Midwest and Southeast (Dayton Oh, Winston Salem NC).