I use State Farm for my personal residence; it's bundled with my auto insurance.

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In addition you can identify a property that performs better as a rental as yours most likely was purchased as a place you would like to live in and not what works best as a rental property.

You could try driving for dollars.In general, the easier you make this person's life, the more valuable you'll be to them.

Be prepared to answer a lot of tough questions about the risks and the process in general.On the plus side, having to pay cash and be at the auction in person usually roots out the "know nothing" buyers that drive prices up.

Not necessarily but I felt as though I didn’t need to spend more time there personally.

I personally have invested in a couple syndications in the last 3 years and none have been completed yet.

Biggest thing is to make sure the agent and title company are competent in Seller Financing, I personally close my Seller Financing deals with a title company who has a real estate attorney on staff.   

The person does pay her back and she did report the interest income. 

I personally want to use this strategy to lock in a lower interest rate on a rental property (being 20 years old with a small amount of credit history).