I'll admit that i have done a comprehensive amount of reading, have listened to all the BiggerPocket podcasts, read all of @Brandon Turner's books (thank you Brandon you rock), and listen to an average of one audio books per week in relation to business or real estate for the last 3 months.

The 2016 tax assessment, while also inaccurate, is $182k.

But don't forget that at that price point and the unit type, and the average income in Aberdeen you are probably going to be dealing with C to D Tenants and will have higher costs.And then you have the condo:Rent is 1,740 let's assume the same 45% because there are some cost savings from being in a condo (but they come back as 'Special Assessments') for $957.  

If that happened on a rental property it would wipe out any cash flow, not to mention that it seems unfair to go after back taxes on a home that was just now assessed at a higher value. 

Well, a savvy buyer would find the assessment and likely backout, it is a tad shady imo, but not illegal and not even immoral.

While everything about the particular unit we toured looked great, we don't want to get stuck doing a special assessment once we move in to fix all of these problems in the common basement.

You could also use the tax assessed value but it is unreliable in most areas.

By Zillow's own assessment, they admit that their data is coming exclusively from assessed values:http://www.zillow.com/howto/DataCoverageZestimateA...This changed from about a year ago when they gave themselves 0 stars because of the lack of data.  

I am currently assessing a deal on 3 multi family homes (2 dup, 1 tri) listed for $55k, $65K and $65K, respectively. 

I think it is best to assess your needs/goals and see the pros and cons to getting your license.