Is it possible the seller is attempting to set up a 1031 exchange where he or she would have to identify a replacement property within 45 days of the sale of the existing property ?

I have used three different third party inspection companies since I have the electrician include passing inspection as part of their requirements, so the electrician brings in their preferred inspector.Another way to get inspector names is to check for tags / labels on the breaker panel that show who inspected it most recently, since identifying the inspection on the panel is normally part of the process.  

If it doesn't have at least 50% equity, it may not be worth pursuing and would come off your hot list.If it does have merit, you need to begin identifying the catalysts or triggers that would motivate the owner to sell.

I have identified 2 of my 7 properties myself and my realtor has identified the others.    

There's lot of places you can Google to find services that can sell you probates, tax liens etc but I'm finding that doing the legwork yourself can identify the best leads.

SSN is a very important identifier to determine the difference among those with similar names.  

I want to set my search criteria so that way I can quickly scan our target neighborhoods and identify potential flips.  

Have you identified a target area or areas of duplexes?

Well, you have identified the problem so why are you not doing something about it?

Honestly, you're probably best off just to identify your markets, check Craig's List, Zillow and any other popular listing services and then add the listings into a spreadsheet.