Ideally, I'd like to be able to change the rules moving forward right now since we have a vacant unit that we are renovating, but I don't want to remove an otherwise good and paying tenant to do so before they are ready to leave.I had wondered about what @Johann Jells had mentioned, but I wasn't able to find anything in our Landlord/Tenant laws to either confirm or deny it.  

Since you have a lot of broad questions, it sounds like you're looking for some direction.

You have to live at the property for an undefined period of time, this is ideal for small multi-family as you can acquire the whole building with no cash down, live there for a while and still rent out the other units.

How should I approach the owner directly before the property forecloses?

I ideally like Multi Family rentals for the scalability to fit my long term cash flow goals quicker, but I do analyze occasional deal for single family homes if they hit my metrics.

I like to go one step further when I mail to an LLC & go to the state corporation site and look up the owner's name and address and mail directly to them so that it's more personal.my rule of thumb when mailing to anyone not titled personally is to limit the mail to those properties that I have a real interest in and not a blanket mailer.

I have my father's 30 year old contracting company at my disposal, I work directly with an in house mortgage lender at my office as well as a property management company (which I would primarily use on a consulting only basis to begin with) and I have 2-3 options for creatively financing my first few deals. 

I understand I am obligated to direct them to their nearest attorney to draw up the note, etc.

Then start reaching out to owners directly.

Ideally we would like something that accommodates us (two separate units within a structure- rather than one as it was set up) and, ideally, also gives rental income too from a rented part of what we invest into.