REIA meetings, meetups, calling the "handyman special" signs, calling the "we buy ugly houses" or the "we pay cash" billboards and signs.  

Do only land and not houses.  

It's a historic house and I turned it into a multifamily, got the rehabilitation certified by the NPS so I got a bunch of tax credits, and it's been a cash flow cow for the last two years.

No, it is NOT illegal to charge the owner a release fee.

I will be owner occupied but I can give more details after while. 

what is the best way to market small multifamily property by owner

I would think a owner of vacant house would request there house would go to an auction when they don’t have the money to redeem in a foreclosure lawsuit but with an abandoned house that going through a foreclosure suit and can’t find the owner or any with the right to redeem and having to be represented by a guardian ad litem.

They will tell you horror stories from the previous owner. 

I had a HF offer me $25 million to start, and would go up to around $200 million for buying houses to hold.

The owner of the out of State should be your personal living trust.