For signing a contract to purchase this house, should the seller's name on the contract be only the widow? 

You can find them through MeetUp.com and NationalREIA.orgThe locals are the ones you will sell to and even buy from.And call all the local bandit signs that you see.

You won't be able to sell it to yourself, and a bank won't lend to a new LLC  unless the owner signs as personally liable anyway. 

Depends on the documents you sign.

For one, I don't know many long term, experienced investors who use this method.

So I don't want to be sitting there, having nothing to contribute other than question after question, not knowing a good neighborhood from a bad one, while experienced investors walk away from me mid-sentence (read about that several times on the forums here). 

Find a experienced real estate agent that is also a investor.

This is my first swing at this and looking for ideas and suggestions from anyone experienced.

I'm an experienced STR host and investor in Atlanta.  

-is willing and ready to build a long-term relationship with a highly motivated investor like myself.I welcome any experienced rental property investors to add on to this list or to point out to me that my certain 'criteria' are not realistic.