Just from that aspect I can see why taking repairs is more beneficial.This provoked me to do a little more research.  

Not to beat a dead horse, but never do this, especially if you are low on funds, because it can easily spill over into other aspects of your life. 

If you are comfortable with the other aspects of the property I wouldn't over think why you are getting it at a discount. 

This makes both student and parent responsible for fulfilling all aspects of the lease agreement. 

@Tom Smith Investing in Houston is a good idea from the aspect of population and job growth.

Small towns should have every aspect looked at with scrutiny even more so than big metro areas. 

Initial signs point to these areas as being healthy opportunities as long as the right deals are found but it would be extremely helpful to hear more about the cash-flow opportunity (as population growth may be driving up prices), if this area was hot a few years ago and may be cooling down and any other market-specific aspects that I may be missing/not including in my research.Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

In my opinion you need to find a property manager who you trust or you need to manage the aspect of choosing which tenants will be placed.

As far as finding out who the city planner is to discuss the legal aspects of that is it just as easy as googling city planner of city "x" or is their a specific site you would recommend?

It provides a lot of good info on one (very important) aspect of note investing.