Out of town/state/country investing - how?

[Gary Newbold]

I am not looking to do this... yet.  But I see a lot of posts about investing out of state and even internationally (which prompted this post).  

Example: There's a SFR for sale in Fargo, ND that needs TLC. A wholesaler, for example, posts it on BP forums. Requests for info flood in from different states or even countries. Someone from out of the area with zero knowledge of Fargo happen to close the deal on that home.

Now what?  What is the actual process of what you do on these situations where you may or may not have much information on what the specific market or micro-market is like?  Do you start with google to try to find a property manager and contractor to go look at it and estimate repairs?  I am sure its much easier to begin with connections but I'm assuming not everyone is connected to each of their purchases.  

How do you take care of inspection, financing, property management, etc without connections where you just closed on a deal?  

I have heard the suggestion of knowing your market down to street level to know the good deals.  I can't imagine the multi-property investors do this when I hear them talk about getting an email with a deal, taking 30 seconds to plug in the numbers and making an offer over the phone for a property 5 states away.  Learn me!