Also glad to see you have found BiggerPockets!

He needs to sell because can't afford payments, had a lot of bad things happen during the year (in the house), and has found a job out of state to get away/start over and just wants out (whatever the reason, he is motivated). 

I wouldn't sell them a inch of my property, and I wouldn't do a easement without plenty of compensation.. for them to tear off part of the deck is what might be needed to be done.Why wasn't this found out when you were purchasing the property,, I'd check with your realtor about this issue,, title search,, and see if anything can be done thru them also. 

I had a lot of inquiries and found 2 great tenants this way.

But then again, haven't yet found an easy and quick route and I also know normal people like you and I with 15 or more active projects.

I have found them easy to work with, especially Gary Bellegard.  

The best rate I've found so far is 4.625 for 20% down 30 yr. 

I have found this works quite well. 

You can start a "yellow letter" campaign and mail houses you've either found yourself or you can purchase lists from different sources.

I found an out of state rental property I wanted to make an offer on, my agent gave me two names of brokers she works with and by 11am the next morning I had the letter.