So prescreen on the phone,  if there is a deal breaker mention it up front. 

That's not necessarily a deal-breaker (well it is for me because I don't want the headaches but a lot of people would succeed with it fine) but it should put you on alert that a) your repairs estimate needs to be higher than normal and b) that your risk of shotty tenants increases dramatically and if I've learned nothing else from my properties, bad tenants can cost you a huge fortune.Can't remember if you said that one is turnkey or not?

Ideally, each room should have it's own circuit for receptacles, lighting should be a separate circuit but you can put multiple rooms of lighting on one circuit.

Look for old wiring (knob and tube)- not a deal breaker but something to be aware of.  

You need a breaker or saw and other tools for this.

Since buying the houses, I've had a rash of bad luck...A) 2 - 20 yard dumpsters filled and emptied of old tenants trashB) Electrical fuse boxes and lines stolen from one home for the copper - $7500 to replace 5 breaker panels, meter units, shut off switches, etcC) Copper plumbing in second house stolen, replaced with PexD) Multiple frozen / busted water lines throughout the houses, was never "winterized"E) And though the houses have been vacant for over 2 years, Indianapolis dept of health has found someone to pick on, giving me multiple fines for unsafe housing (missing gutter downspouts, cracked porch near steps, and get this...the plywood that was used to board up the windows was not painted the same color as the house!)

Usually, I'm not able to check the plumbing or furnace, but I'm getting such a good price that if they are bad, it won't be a deal breaker.

I've recently found a property that will more than likely be going into auction next month that is worth over $100,000+ Lake Drive Virginia Beach, Virginia 23464 (Tax Map ID No. 146643179800) Default having been made in the terms of a certain Deed of Trust dated March 29, 2002, in the original principal amount of $38,000.00 and recorded in the Clerk's Office of the Circuit Court of the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia in Deed Book 4667, page 822, the undersigned Substitute Trustees, will sell at public auction on April 27, 2009, at 8:30 a.m., in front of the building housing the Virginia Beach Circuit Court, facing Nimmo Parkway (Building 10), Virginia Beach Judicial Center, 2425 Nimmo Parkway, Virginia Beach, VA, the property designated as Lot 15, Block A, on the plat entitled "Plat of Chatham Hall, Phase 6, Part B", recorded in the aforesaid Clerk's Office in Map Book 126 at page 46.

All had good experiences and I'm sure, from what I knew at the time that they would have been hosed by the insurance companies if they had not gone that route.That said, I'm a big believer in hearing what the other side (insurnance company) has to say before I call in my "big guns" (private adjuster, attorney, leg breaker in order of importance).

I am not sure if the 1st lenders position is unattached at any point but that would become a deal breaker if that happens.