One of the indicators of this was when the buyer assigned(wholesales/flopped).

The closing date indicated on form stated 12/4/17 (Monday).  

I would argue that it in Newport News, in particular, areas where there are places for rent is a good indication of where investor activity is taking place. 

Additionally, in many jurisdictions there are regulatory/legislative restrictions on when you can disturb the tenants.I always figured, if I'm looking to drop $500K to +$1M on a small to mid-sized apartment building, I can make myself available for an hour or two during the week.... and as @Jeff Kehl indicated, if you've done all your homework and deem a property worth a walkthrough, you've probably already submitted a LoI to the Vendor.

@Keegan Lunsford , can you please send me a list of your contractors as well  and maybe indicate in the list which ones charge to give estimates and which ones don't?

Give the man the respect his years of experience and net worth would indicate he deserves.  

Letter indicating cease and desist its trespass, talk to your lawyer, no trespass sign, and big rocks or posts and a heavy chain strung between them.

Your furnace also likely blinks a code to indicate what has failed.

Sellers indicated they did not care about closing date/cash offer so we decided to skip on it and not tie up large amount.

This is usually the best indicator that they are 2 different properties.Best of luck to you!!