From an investment perspective on this area, the vacancy rate is very low, rents are healthy (reasonably high, but not NYC/Boston/Bay Area crazy), and the tenant quality is about as good as it gets. 

I will not go into detail about how to generate such lists, as that would also defeat the purpose for me, but will say to just think about what different conditions would lead to a seller (with significant equity) needing to sell quickly, what documentation, signs, and/or public records would such a condition produce, and therefore how would you go about locating those sellers.

If they will not produce the PA it is most likely because they don't have one. 

Dear Claudia,Thank you for your recent letter, providing me the opportunity to re-qualify for our little loan of $114,000 that is secured by $700,000 of income-producing assets, the entire LLC, my wife and I's personal name and my management co that has rights to collect all rents in my portfolio.  

One of the things I occasionally come across is that the MLS, though difficult, can produce some good deals from time to time.As a real estate agent, it's hard for me to see how (granted, the BR market is currently very much a seller's market so that probably skews it a bit).

Leverage and the ability to control larger assets also produces the ability to amortize larger loans over time.  

And this tenant has never been late nor had NSF issues, and can produce bank statements that can prove the had sufficient funds.

It comes with pros and cons, but for us the cons are outweighed by the fact that we are living rent free right now and when we move out, we will have another rental unit producing cash flow.I think that if you can find a property get your numbers to work out with FHA financing anywhere in the 3.5%-10% down payment range than you should do it and lock in the low rate.Like @Dan Mackin said, it's tight right now here, but if you are patient and quick when you do find something you like, it can be done.

I was wondering if it was possible to take a loan out on the land, use the loan money to buy an income producing rental property, and reinvest the income into barn renovation.How farfetched is the idea?

The problem is that most investors I was mailing to were happy with the companies they were currently working with so my efforts did not produce the results I was hoping for.