Apparently the old woman who lived there could no longer live by herself and had to move in with her kids about 2 hours away. 

This is an amazing accomplishment.

hi rafeal. i have a number of different ways to find the owners, usually they are free  also. first, find the house, then check with the local tax assessors office. they may have a new address for the owner. second, county websites often list the owner. most often, it will list the owner as living in the house, which we know is not the case. then, if you get the owners name, check the website for any other houses he or she may own in the area. chances are they live in one of the other houses. if they do not own any other houses, run their names on whitepages.com. you might be surprised with what you come up with. as a last resort, i knock  on neighbors doors around the house. its amazing what neighbors know. 

For instance, I've talked to one guy in particular from loopnet who advertises 25% cap rate and then on the phone he's sort of like "well.. you know... it's more like 18%"  Don't get me wrong, 18% cap rate is amazing, but why lie about something so fundamental on loopnet then tell me something else on the phone?

Thanks for the amazing tips and advice!  

amazing the lengths people go to be dishonest. 

As a woman owned company I was told that we for sure got targeted.

Compounding is amazing 

I started dating a lovely woman, got engaged, and realized I needed a home for us.

In my opinion when you are starting out you have to do most of the work yourself that is certainly the case unless you are absolutely amazing in finding the right people willing to help you such as real estate agents, lenders, contractors, tax advisors, etc.