In order to find sellers you need to do direct marketing (letters, postcards, etc) to different areas and different lists like out of state owners, pre foreclosures, divorce, etc.  

The security deed from the research I've done is where the owner of the home has pulled equity out with a lender.

Right, I wasn't clear enough.My main goal is to purchase properties in areas that I believe will develop in the future and the value of the properties will increase.In order to increase the cash flow (to cover current expenses) I am checking the possibility of doing arbitrage  There are a lot of posts about arbitrage on here - but I will make a few quick points about it from the owner point of view. 

What percent of owner occupants do that?

If your lot is big enough you can put up a fence in between so there's virtually no interaction with your tenant.This also makes it easier to rent it out as an MTR to travelers with pets.

We are purchasing a car wash from the owner.

I would expect vacancy rates to remain elevated for several quarters, which will keep pressure on rents and possibly lead to concessions by apartment owner/operators.

A quick summary: I was presented with a property near where I live in California that had a tenant in place and a month to month lease and a small deposit with the owner of the property.

I want to reach out to the new owners and see if they’re willing to sell.

I think a lot of our (landlords/property managers/owners) problems are that more private owners don't send to collections.