if there are 10 interior cosmetic violations opposed to a roof repair violation I'd imagine one would be more motivated than the other.  

By working with motivated sellers, I’m able to secure below-market deals and pass those savings onto buyers.

Being miserable at your job is one of the best motivators I can think of. 

Motivation is an emotional thing.

It can easily take 6+ months to find a motivated seller. - Just be prepared, because a motivated seller typically has a property with issues you need to be sure you can solve.

Define your motives, and run with it. 

What is your motivation for an STR and the Hawai'i market?

The "online leads" trend becomes a vast pool of scams, each one discovering a new and "better" way to find motivated sellers via SEO/Paid adds/Social Media etc, and automatically aims to make a profit from selling those so-called leads.

Most syndicators are not very motivated to put together profitable deals because they make money by putting together the syndication itself.As I've mentioned, not all of my passive investments have done great, but in aggregate they have done better than average because none of them have any of the items mentioned above. 

You can go the one property route but I think doing an agreement period is much more motivating for the agent (and will save you time, hassle, etc)