@Bryan Williamson A disclaimer first: I am no attorney or financial expert/consultant, so please don't take my response as legal advice or indication that you should act in one way or the other.Now to answer your question: this question have been debated a loooooooooottttttt in BP.

I haven’t done this so I do not know the legalities.

Most have not been vetted by anyone and there's no guarantee they'd be legal in your state or for your specific situation (or anyone's really). 

Not the most fun thing to try and do but also not impossible.

Everything I've read and/or researched points me away from this conversion, but I do not think I can legally make it an additional bedroom due to the size and set up. 

Now the classes teach the legal stuff and put you on a baseline but they don't teach you how to actually sell or farm markets so I would study that stuff. 

This means that the buyer has no equity in the home until he takes legal title.

Don't take legal advice from a forum.

Honorably, admirably is the correct response of course.Our slogan contains three “honorable” synonyms “…Legally, Morally, Ethically.”™ So, addressing our minds from this premise, we may conquer challenges in ways unavailable from a negative space.Negotiating from a position of unfair advantage doesn’t permit negative aspects.

My question is: Are there any legal issues to consider in cold calling/reaching out to owners of visibly distressed or vacant properties?