I want to be able to acquire several more of these especially as my market goes into the winter and prices tend to drop. 

I could see this writing on the wall for various reasons however there were several reasons we had to take this sale.  

I lurked in the forums and listened to the podcast for several years before making the leap to buying my first property.

Plenty of neighbors from several vacant homes I have encountered tell me the person who lived there is deceased.

@Skyler Chaney,  Hello Skyler, I've been looking at plans for an unbuilt tri-plex which when completed is expected to offer cash flow of several thousand per month, instant equity of near 20%, and a Cash on Cash Return on investment of over 50% the first year.  

You can try one or several sites as this one: BP, and/or Meetup, and/or LinkedIn, and/or Facebook.

I have read several comments most of which have not been positive about working with this group.

Just tell your new tenants that you'll need several hours on the 1st to clean the unit and get it ready for them. 

We both have experience in the single family realm having bought and sold several single family houses each on our own using conventional financing.

There are several medians to acquire motivated sellers, and normally the person or organization selling the service or program to generate motivate sellers will give you all the reasons why this is the best way, with a price tag of coarse.