Personally, I’d review MLS data, Zillow, and consult with a realtor to determine an accurate ARV.

When I tried to contact the repair company to get more details, they informed me that they could not share any information.When I asked the seller further questions to clarify the discrepancy and requested more information, he became upset and stated that he would not provide anything beyond the one-line receipt, which only lists the cost of the repair without any additional details.

. :)Anyway, I like your strategy of driving and looking for houses in need of repair and sending handwritten letters and contacting rentals for the reasons you gave.

Tip #1 - no such thing as one perfect market There is lots of data on Bigger Pockets and MTR experts that have released rankings of top cities for next year, but remember it's not just about the purchase-- it's also about the operation.

There is really no data on this so most of the numbers are just proposed.

Most times landlords don't have data or cannot adequately factor in vacancy time or turnover rate.

What I see a lot of people do is overthink it and then either stop in their tracks, or wait for years to get started due to the overwhelming data that they get on what they want to do.

The problem (as you have cited) is trying to understand what you need (you don't know what you don't know), where to get it, qualifying its source(s), and the validity and usefulness of all that.Pardon me if I've gone into this too much, but I meet many people with the same concerns that you are voicing and this is offered, as much as possible in direct response to your post.Please feel free to contact me if you have any comments or questions. 

Then if in the US you have to find a friend of theirs to get their contact info.    2.  

If you believe that to be true then simply ask the escrow officer to forward it to the Seller they will have sellers contact info and they are a neutral party..