My question to you is this... what is the best approach to contacting and finding out if the owner is wanting to get rid of this house and to get it for the lowest price possible?

Simply drive around areas you'd like to invest in, note the addresses of homes that look vacant or in need of TLC, look up the owners' contact info, send them a letter offering to purchase their home for cash with a quick closing, negotiate a good price, get the property under sales agreement, then post the deal here in the marketplace to find a buyer, then close the deal with the end buyer holding title to the property, the seller is rid of the troublesome property, and you have made the wholesale fee.  

2) We tell them that they are 100% responsible for the rent for the full duration of their lease whether they live there or not.3) We offer to list the apartment for rent and if it is rented prior to the end of their lease, then we will release them, however, they are responsible for the rent up until that point and they are required to cooperate with showings, etc.4) Their security deposit is dealt with normally, any repairs that we need to make (including getting rid of their trash left in a hasty departure) all gets billed to the security deposit.5) If they don't let us list the apartment and can't pay the rent, they will be evicted and that will show up on both of their permanent records for a long time (usually this is motivating for them not to do this)Luckily, the times we've had to do this, we've ended up with better tenants on the re-rent and have had ZERO downtime for the turnover, so it actually cost us aggravation and time on our part, but did not lead to an actual vacancy.

He mentioned that two or three of them cashflow, but he is not interested, and is looking to get rid of them. 

If they can not afford market rent get rid of them now and find real "good" tenants that can afford $1200.

It is very simple to get rid of mold and there is multiple options.

Some of these properties I sold 10-15 years ago and I"m thinking I could get rid of documents concerning them.

Our rentals aren't in low income areas, but we still do a few things to make them as low maintenance as possible...I think one of the most important things is getting rid of any items with moving parts susceptible to breaking (i.e. disposals, dishwashers, automatic ice makers, ceiling fans, etc.).

This brings on deep clean mode, because I am determined to get rid of these things.  

Unless he is really trying to get rid of 1031 exchanges for good.