These people often don't understand lending and have a checklist of boxes to check.

The threats of leins were not working, as truthfully I had no idea how mechanical liens worked at the time and would just contact a lawyer who did understand them. ( I since have, a lien was placed and it was fraudulent) He began to dismantle the electric after breaking into the breaker box.

. —- Again I’m not saying you have to do these things; it all depends what type of investor you are and what you are looking for however it is important to understand that if you shift the responsibility of either identifying the invest property or managing or any other aspect there WILL be a trade off — in this case the turnkey company has delivered on your goal of 8-9% ROI (projected... so TBC) and in return you have traded some of the other benefits of investing in RE for the convenience of not having to do much more than to look over the properties they have sent you and funding it from the comfort of your home, office, etc. ... again if this is the goal then you are on point but if the goal is to also partake in ALL of the other benefits of RE then you should understand that and not be surprised that it’s not a ‘stellar’ investment that checks all the boxes.

Outside of the box & could prove to be lucrative. 

Boxes of files were removed.  

OK Thanks Chad.. yes now that you clarify that and I also work in the low value asset sand box but only to Investors who have money to turn them around I would never count on those owner occ's to cure at least at any large % to easy to  walk  and the properties as you mentioned many will be functionally obsolete and economically obsolete so they turn into your basic zombie house that local wholesalers go for ..

Solving the great mysteries of life, for all of us, generally requires time and bandwidth, resources unavailable if you're spending all your down time looking for the next off-market deal. 

Since then, we've analyzed at least 75 deals across multiple markets, developed our buy box, and choose a strategy that aligns with our goals.

You have found a market out-of-state and have talked to an investor-friendly Realtor you met on Facebook that seems to check a lot of boxes for you and your goals.You worry about making a good choice and how to complete your due diligence on this agent and opportunity.All of my out-of-state buyers buy without ever having seen the property in person but I know they will at some point and want them to have a good experience so I frequently do FaceTime walkthroughs with them before buying and use a very comprehensive property inspector to avoid surprises.

Think outside the box.