That alone brings you to negative cash-flow and that is even without accounting for any municipal utilities.

So, yes, you can absolutely have a great rental business as an out of state ( and even international ) investor, as long as you have a solid team that are your boots on the ground. 

The mailers I receive for my properties are not of a high enough quality, to make me believe the sender understands what gets a recipient to even open or read the mailer, let alone respond. 

BiggerPockets also has a calculator to analyze deals, and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy.

Isn't it unlikely that a homeowner who cant afford a 2-3k tax bill would even challenge this legally?

Even facebook might have some good local groups for you.

The removal of the Taxable Value cap and the switch to Non-Homestead millage rates can double, even triple, the property taxes.

I would purchase a duplex (or even better, purchase a SFH with as many bedrooms as you can afford and rent by the room), and then slowly improve the property. 

I do this on all my properties-even small ones. 

Based on my experience of running properties, even if the build were to cost you as much as $600k but you could generate $125k/year, you'd be very happy with that investment.