Meeting other member online in a variety of backgrounds is a great resource.  

I understand that he is bringing some capital to to game but he is not handling any of the other duties or day to day operations.  

I recommend doing a lot of reserach online first.

Persistence is the name of the game, your best bet is to @ least send it once a month and create a system to notate when you contacted an owner. 

Do any of you active rehabbers have any tips or recommendations that I could try?  

Im surprised that it is still something people are investing in as it seems like a dying game.

I am very capable in excel, having manually and mentally run the numbers of multifamily units listed online I have found that none of them come close to meeting the 1% rule.

I have lots of great tips, but figure I should direct them to an investor friendly local agent.

In our FL As Is contract, which you can find online (FARBAR AS IS) the inspection period is an absolute get out of jail free card, Paragraph 12.....something to the effect of "If buyer determines, at sole discretion of the buyer, that the property is not acceptable, Buyer may terminate this contract.....and the EM will be returned".  

We are both new to the game so its great that you and your colleague have at least done some contracting in the past.