He mentioned that he was more interested in a traditional sale and after speaking for about 20 minutes we left off with me wishing him luck on his sale and him saying that he will keep my offer in mind.

Try to go for traditional with banking, it's less expensive and will help build your credit.

Given that what I'm trying to do is to a)help the seller get out of her sticky situation without b)needing to bring much cash to the table, and c)save funds for what will be a substantial rehab that would probably disqualify me for a traditional construction loan, are there any better ways to structure my offer?

@Rocco Swinney I wish it was more creative, but I just did a traditional commercial loan with a local community bank that was a referral from the selling broker.

Traditional insurance companies like a State Farm will force the replacement cost which could be $220K or more.

There may be innovation that drives the Ag market but the traditional markets are tight. 

Airbnb's tend to have higher expenses than traditional rentals due to the higher management fees and covering all of the utilities.

Is the minimum down payment of 20% for 1st time traditional financing on investment property?

is there a company that provides the ability to invest in traditional stock as well as non traditional.

Basically I don't fit neatly into a traditional income and employment box.