I was thinking about advertising my business on one side such as "cash for homes" and on the other side offer some sort of money for people who know someone else who is wanting to sell and get paid if I close on the property they referred me to. 4.

@Eddie Shah If you are thinking of waiting, for prices to decline I assume, you might consider putting the money to work via shorter term private lending or some sort of syndication deal and still get double digit returns on your money.  

How is sort of a matter of what your priorities are.

As I learn it more I would like to be able to make it more complex with adding notes to the images, room measurements things like that, open up excel rough rehab estimate, proforma Calc.

Does anybody have experience with this sort of closing and how funds are dispersed?

I think you have to go to the city county building and actually sort through the files.By files I mean actual file folders and paper. 

I was thinking the same (i.e. income to rental and purchase pricing vs. non parity, in various cities and enclaves) with perhaps a disproportionate ratio of 'rentals' to home ownership... if that sort of data is tracked, and available online? 

What sorts of ratios should I require for income vs expenses on the potential assignee's financials?

Your ad will likely convert because in your ad you will have wedding images and in the ad copy you will talk about needing a photographer for your wedding.

Hospitals, colleges, recreation opportunities or some sort of industry all help.But a lot of this depends on your time horizon.