I don't technically qualify for FHA or conventional loans, so I'm hoping to explore potential other options for financing, perhaps portfolio lenders at smaller banks, perhaps a partner that would like to team up on a property? 

The pro's of conventional 1 year tax return programs is that typically you can price your loan with no points and potentially with a lender credit to cover all your closing costs and its 30 year amortization and 30 year term meaning you pay the min payment for 30 years you'll end up at 0 dollar balance at the end of 30 with out having to refinance or payoff your loan at any point in between and assuming you dont default your note will not be called due and payable which is always a possiblity on a portfolio note.In houston,TX I like Lone Star Bank (LSB) they do portfolio money last I saw at 20 year AM 5.50% with 1 point 7 year term i believe (balloons at the end of 7).

@Ayman Elmasik what you can do is bring one of your potential buyers by the property and have them look at it and make you an offer on the property.

Small price to pay to avoid potentially huge problems. 

You can search for listings with "estate" in the Owner field to find estate properties with potentially motivated or disinterested sellers.

Im looking at this seeing a good money maker due to the various sources of potential income.

Even so that I'm dabbling in raw land investing because its a similar niche market that has the potential to be even less of a hassle.

I don't intend to let the potential buyer choose what/how they want something done. 

If you sell for $160K and buy for $90K there is a potential taxable boot of $70K.  

As I am doing my research in the Oakland market, a lot of the math is starting to look slim in terms of cash flow so I started to study properties that could possibly be renovated with condo conversion potentials as a value add opportunity.