That being said, would any of you mind sharing your techniques on how you found dependable investors?

@Dwayne George Note that there are the SAFE Act rules to know with seller financing, both NZc and Fed.

You are very safe if you invest in major metroplex with following criteria ...

The technique I use to find buyers is to attend the tax and foreclosure auctions, watch who is buying houses, and approach them.  

From what Ive found there are supporters and proponents of just about every strategy/technique.

Then by 2012 people saw that real estate was safe and that forced cap rates down. 

(Note -- GE, which I never owned, is an example of a long-time dividend raiser that lost its way and cut its dividend to a penny a share recently.)For my asset allocation portfolio, I use the more conservative 3% safe withdrawal rate (some investors prefer the 4% SWR).

IMO, all investors should learn creative financing techniques & strategies & use them whenever they can.

I actually have an account where I touch nothing but I should probably account for more to be safe.

Do that with all the utilities.As a technique, any utility that can be wasted probably will be.