We will finance the 25% down with a loan at 3% from a life insurance policy loan and hope for the best on the conventional investor loan we will have for the purchase money.

The partners spent their careers in retail real estate and made a ton of money.  

Downpayment was through personal savings from my 9 to 5 and remaining financing for purchase and rehab came from hard money lender (Easy Sreet Capital).

House hack the 4 plex - it takes less money down and you likely buy the asset that spits off more cash.

How do you find these distressed home owners without paying a ton of money for some of these lists?

Use your least tax-efficient money to buy your most tax-efficient assets. 

Especially the petty ones that are a complete waste of time, money, and peace of mind!

The MOST successful will probably not be because they are able to raise more money than they can successfully invest from passive investors - so why incur the hassle.  

(then you also don't need to worry about the time crunch of a 1031I would suggest just selling and sitting on the money until a truly attractive offer comes your way.

It's a great way to increase your net worth and these loans can also be used to pull cash out of a property as it appreciates allowing you to reinvest money into new deals.Happy to connect to discuss further.