I've used Washington Federal before for a cash-out refi and they made everything easy.

My state has an absolute auction that provides lien-free title to the property (with the exception of Federal liens).

Use the federal law. 

What kind of regulation, either Colorado or Federal (Dodd Frank), is there on owner financing?

Look around your area to decide what is most consistent and popular.

Always do the math numbers and try to look at the prospective properties before you make an offer or at least have a clause in the sales contract that will allow you some time (usually about 15 days) to inspect a prospective property and possibly back out of the deal without a penalty that will hurt you.Know what that area your in is popular and just do that and hire an Agent to sell it for you.    

Nearly half of all mortgage applications are for refinancing, which continues to be a popular option.

Does anyone know what are the most popular RE blogs?

That is your buyer's list.These are the investors that regardless of the housing market are buying properties and closing on them... that means they have their funding in place and are the real deal.If you want to further increase your chances .. determine the most popular zip codes for properties that were purchased and target those areas first.Hope this helpsGood luck to everyone

Adjusting to the new reality of normalcy will be a painful process.On the one hand, Federal Reserve officials, Federal Government officials, many Wall Street executives and salespeople, believe it is "necessary for our economic security" to return to that place of easy credit.