Sometimes they have office staff that handles status changes that do not work on weekends, so I would not be overly quick to call the agent a liar. 

In order to arrive at  that, you have to a real handle on AVR (the price you will expect when you sell), the rehab construction estimates, knowing your fixed costs and selling costs.

Do you only care about the interest rate or are other factors like being able to bid online, how noticing is handled, are lawyers needed, the ease of foreclosing, the time before you can begin foreclosure etc etc all need to be asked. 

how do i handle this?

Generally until that foreclosure suit is final the property still belongs to the original owners and you can buy it from them.

And my second question (i know a lot of this depends on me) but is this just too big of a project for a first timer to handle?  

We have simi;lar strategies in mind but we would definitely need to think through all the possible scenarios and how we would handle each one if it arose.

Your PM will handle the tenant selectionConnecting with local realtor involved in purchasing investment properties will handle the offer, escrow and closing process.  

65% seems like a very reasonable LTC, but you really have zero control over how the asset is handled after you invest if you're a passive investor.  

Regarding what kind of cash-flow or ratios you need to retire and your concerns with future CapX, you should also plan ahead to have a reserve in the bank to handle the unexpected stuff.