Now there are multiple people involved and always playing telephone.

So I have found a few abandoned homes and located the owner online  but under the property owners name has multiple addresses and it doesn't show which address is current, it does have phone numbers.

I am a big fan of building equity into more than one property so that I always have multiple sources of credit available to me quickly and super cheap (4%)  You could theoretically (if your DTI allows it and you have a decent in come and credit score), take the cash out from the first property and use that for two large down payments on two new houses, then finance the both via conventional financing. 

Seller received multiple offers and our offer was not high enough so we did not get it. 

Fast forward 4 months and multiple lunches later, I was performing all kinds of tasks for him and soaking up as much of his knowledge and experience as I possibly could!

By the time I walk through get my funds letter ready and offer signed, I'm already up to multiple offers.  

Good contractors will not let you run them around for free multiple times though.

I’m looking for a commercial lender in the Chicago or Los Angeles area that can fund multiple properties into one package deal in Illinois.I would consider leveraging a free and clear duplex property which currently generates a gross monthly income of $1,800 as collateral.Any recommendations or ideas?

You may be confusing documents and patterns.An affidavit death of joint tenant would be recorded along with a death certificate but would not necessitate a probate to effect an insurable transfer.There are summary probates in some state that require minimum court involvement.In my state, CA, a formal probate is required when the Decedent's interest and their total gross estate exceed $150,000.

There are multiple offers, properties with 100+ showings over a weekend with 20+ offers.