Are you on title, recorded with the county?

No criminal record or evictions.  

However I have been told that while technically possible, it is in actuality quite rare, and they likely won't care.For the record, my lender is a small-town bank that holds their portfolios, NOT sell them.My goal is to reduce overhead.

@Devante Williams, You can always find the owners from the county records search and track them down through a white pages search. 

But I think a lot of that was taking advantage of the economic cycle, and accordingly, I'm not a fan of buying as unemployment approaches record lows..

Has anyone on here used the organization "funding for flipping.com"?

Just go straight to the owner through mail or reverse lookup in county records.

Yes - either because the HOA lien was recorded before the mortgage, or due to super lien legislation in some states that bump the priority.

I looked up the owner using county records, and he owns 3 other properties in the area. 

If you have a track record of previous success, they will usually loan you money, even if the building is completely empty.