I this situation I was thinking about various financing methods, the first that came to mind was to take the seller's offer with an outside entity covering the down payment and closing (Hard money, private money etc.).Another option may be to ask if he's willing to do seller financing, though I don't know if he has a mortgage on the property that would be due on closing. 

Hey All,I was hoping to get some input on the best method of reaching out to owners of properties not on the market.

I'm wondering...when people aren't quite at the stage of touring specific properties with a real estate agent, but instead are just browsing/screening properties, what method do you use to find properties?

Each method serves a different purpose; hammer for nails, screwdriver for screws.Most of the time it's enough for smaller deals to figure the cash on cash returns.

I need the following trades - tile, framing/drywall, painting, carpet install, maybe a little electrical.  

Shopping deals and/or re-trading deals means the deal is transactional in nature and the bank will not try hard to make your deals work and the lender won't expend any political capital in the committee meetings on your behalf if you do this.

There are other methods beside small claims, but small claims is one of them.  

I will trade some percentage such as getting 20% etc. for not having a headache or working like crazy.    

You can also use a program called time trade and basically you get the person to schedule an appointment to talk to you.

I have at least 5 guys per trade that I could call, even with that, in some days, all of them are busy, and I had to call an electrician to do a plumbers job, not that they don't know how to do it, they are just slower than my plumbers, and they are of lesser quality in workmanship.