A team of agents will constantly communicate off-market deals between themselves and be able to share them with you if you communicate your goals with them. 

(Reminder: my marketing costs are virtually non-existent and I could possibly mail 2x a month)2) Buy a duplex relatively soon, rent it out, build equity, refi and then buy a 3-family.

If that is true that it is virtually impossible for anything of the sort to still be hidden then I would argue that there is nothing to hide which means that the foundational beliefs your father held and you now hold are just not accurate.

I have that urge again to purchase a property and have taken action towards doing just that meaning I got preapproved for a 30-year fixed rate loan and I have been in communication with my Realtor.  

Your way of communicating them can be improved.You cannot unilaterally end the lease.

I constantly had to monitor the progress because the property manager would not communicate with the contractor for status updates.

Virtually lowest crime. 

If the owner's can't be reached, is it possible to find who the lender is and communicate directly with them or is that not a viable option.I am hoping to flip this house.

To me, communication, transparency, willingness to work out problems are very important.

I thought that like most businesses they evaluate and re-valuate over time their P&L and Balance Sheets and if they seem to have more cash growing they would want to put it to better use and on the opposite end of the spectrum if they have virtually no reserves sitting there they would want to increase funds.