Maintenance is delegated to the tenant/buyer that is legal and that is stated in the lease.Seller remains on the deed -it's still his-her property until the option is exercised.

I know I need a motivated seller and a buyer willing to purchase the property.

If a Seller is Free & Clear or stubborn and does not appear motivated (Gives the “I would sell for the ‘Right Price’ line”) Is there anything that we can do with them to make a deal or do we consider them a cold lead?

I have little experience, but have the time, effort, drive, and motivation to (and great credit) to put forth on a deal with an experienced investor.

You probably could get the most cash out if you have rented it out for a year.Seller financing might be a possibility, but usually that would take some motivation for the seller to provide it. 

Then I can take the remaining cash to put down on a rental property for me to manage.

Success stories like your gives us newbies motivation to carry on !

I would want to understand what the seller's motivations are.

Being a newbie to REI, it was a good feeling receiving a message from a motivated seller who left her name, number and the property address on my Google voice number. 

But, it is very situation specific.On one of our REO purchases a while back, at the closing table we were informed by the listing agent that we were actually outbid to the tune of $4,000, but because we submitted an all-cash offer (and the other, higher offer had a financing contingency), the bank went with our offer - the bank was very motivated to close the transaction.Good luck!