You said you don't want to rely on them for everything but why not set up a win-win for them and make them the partner instead.  

When they foreclose, or if their secured interest is foreclosed out by a senior lien holder, they "win or lose" together, members of the same "team."

Both will help you win repore with the heirs and give you an excuse to get their email address. 

Good to see so many interested in learning, collaborating and winning in life.

So, given the above stats, if you are bidding against say 4 others on every property then you'd need to research approx 50 properties just to win one.  

This would be the perfect place for someone like Perry Homes to buy out the empty lots and build the McMansions for which they are famous.

CarrieThanks for commenting.It's been quite a ride and I've learned a ton in the process about how to organize a meetup as well as getting the chance to talk to really experienced investors.Definitely a win-win overall.Wish you luck with all your future endeavors as well.  

In real estate there are a couple things rookie investors notice pretty quickly:- Paying cash is more attractive to the seller and tends to get the deal closed sooner (which could translate into a discount or winning when there are multiple bids)- Refinancing (pulling the money out) becomes more painful if paying cash, many banks don't offer delayed financing (https://www.fanniemae.com/content/guide/selling/b2...) and those that do require more hoops to jump through, require 70% loan instead of 80% and don't allow you to extract repair costsI've actually been bitten by this refinancing issue with my first purchase in Chicago.This really hurts rookie investor's ability to start acquiring properties because we don't yet have good connections with hard money lenders/portfolio lenders, enough extra cash of our own to buy multiple properties outright, or enough properties purchased to stagger refinancing such that this doesn't affect us.

We have virtually no money cost for the purchase, a real win win for everyone.

One thing you might want to do is to let them know that you will work with their agent, but hoped you could help them move quickly to foster a win-win scenario for their situation.