There are 9 x buyers for owner occupied houses than there are investor buyers. 

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs: Quote from @Engelo Rumora: @David KanarekI don't think I have ever seen better investigative research than this.Hat's off to you and sorry for your troubles and everyone else's.Please don't investigate me haha Engelo as someone that has taken this kind of abuse on BP and SM  and lived to fight another day I think you understand better than most investors mind set and how they feel or attack if their deal does not go right.  

We constantly get the comments that it is much better than it looks which I prefer.So here are some links to read up on the topic @Mark Mileshttps://www.zillow.com/learn/how-to-make-a-virtual-tour-for-...You can go over to - https://matterport.com/ and create a free account.

Usually living in it for a few years may be enough for it to cash flow positive when you move out.  

Send me a PM and I'll send you a couple of examples of what is on the market outside of Atlanta so you can run your numbers and see if that fits.

For several reasons (property taxes, politics), I would prefer to begin real estate investing somewhere other than locally. 

I also hold a couple of real estate forums in the area for people like yourselves to connect with service providers, GC's, etc. 

The request for 2% to cover closing costs seems fairly normal especially if they are more than ok with paying asking price. 

Not impossible, but much harder than before. 

Yes 1k sqft is small but probably much better than living with family.