My particular method unfortunately is grab a chair, photo copy everything, and spend a lot of time trying to decipher exactly what the "official" stats on a building are.Anyone have a time saving idea for going about this?  

I'm curious of your methods, and what you get from it. 

The most effective method for lead generation on the web is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on SEARCH engines (google, bing).

Its a different animal calculating price per sq/ft because of the addition and adapting and reusing material.

BTW this method generally works for commercial lenders as well when you get past the GSE limits (4 or 10 or whatever they are), but you'll have to know details of the bank's/lender's underwriting requirements.

Or you can always work on other creative methods like owner financing and or Private lending.Is there a way to get to all of the MLS listings without being a realtor?

If unoccupied leave a note or better yet, go to the post office and see if they have a forwarding address.The fastest and easiest method to locate buyers and sellers is to use a listing service such as ListSource.com, where it will provide you with a list of  buyers/sellers narrowed down to zip code in a particular zip code.

Jack or Jill homeowner does not want to deal with it, no matter the rate or method in most cases.As investors, we have to ask ourselves "how can we afford this".  

@John Van Uytven I plan to eventually turn real estate investing into a method of passive income that could replace my current income and allow me to do the things that give me joy (family, volunteering, travelling, et al.).

- ive done many FSBO's buying and selling. if you are competent enough to accurately price your home and handle the negotiations, you will ask yourself why you have ever paid the big money % to a realtor afterwards. most people dont know this but when it comes to the actual transaction, this is all done by a title company. a realtor is there to basically to help find the buyer/seller and act as a middle man instead of the buyer and seller negotiating directly with each other (the method i prefer).call a title company and just talk to them, you would probably be amazed at what all they do and how little it actually costs to transact real estate