Are there alternatives?

I for one have made countless mistakes, but real estate investing is still worth it for me.It would be helpful to have specific numbers because if you have a HELOC that can be used as your contribution for a deal and a HML that will cover the  rest you should have enough for a deal (depending where this deal is).  

I do receive cards back that are undeliverable and either scrub those off the list or dig deaper for an alternative address. 

I was just wondering if it would be possible to short US treasuries and use proceeds to fund a property as an alternative form of finance.

The alternative is HML, whom you can find through local REI events.

Alternative Solutions ...List it with a relocation company.

Seller financing can obviously have some perks as it offers an alternative to those that may possibly not be able to obtain a loan for credit reasons or due to the size of the loan being too small that no bank with provide a mortgage.Though it's not always the case, expect for the term of your agreement to be much shorter than a conventional loan. 

This is a much better alternative to HMLs in 9/10 scenarios because you're still able to get low rates on 30 year terms. 

But like EM, it does not take into account net present values of cash flows over time, and therefore is not completely accurate and usable to compare alternative investment choices.

There's a lot of alternative ways to manage properties without losing control over quality and timeliness.