Planning road trip to visit cities. How to make the best of it?

[Marvin Michel]

Hello,

I'm a newbie investor and I'm zeroing in on some cities in the Midwest that I'd like to make my first purchase in. As I'm not comfortable making a first-time purchase out of state without visiting the area, I decided to make a road trip out of it and to visit a handful of cities spread across a few states to get a physical feel of the markets I've got my eye on. 

The thing is though is that I don't really have a concrete plan of action once I arrive at these destinations. For one, I'm only planning to be in a city 2 to 3 days at a time, and I don't know if that'll allow me enough time to scout properties in an effective way. For example, if I wanted to visit a property that was a fixer upper, how would I be able to estimate how much work a property needs unless I also coordinated with having a contractor or someone who works in property management to come with me? And how would I do THAT with someone who would know that I was just in town for 2 or 3 days and may never even end up buying and wasting their time? How about setting up showing times with real estate agents? Will I be able to see properties on demand or will I have to schedule days in advance? Again with timing and coordination being a sensitive issue for my timeline. 

Now supposing these kinks can be worked out, the next big question is what sort of information should I be trying to get out of every place I visit, and what sort of information should I have in advance before even visiting a place? In my mind, I'm imagining that I'd just simply ask about what the expenses of a property would be and what rental income the property could generate. Then I'd add in the estimate of the work the contractor/PM would tell me the house needs and determine from that if I'm looking at a potential deal. I don't know what I don't know so I'm asking here if you think I'm missing anything.

All in all I want to make the best of my fact finding mission, but it's hard to know where or how to start or how to know if I'm doing the right steps. Thank you for reading and taking the time to answer.

Marvin