If folks have any suggestions for good, mutually beneficial organizations (not ones that want to charge me $150 just to listen to the same old presentation), I'd love to hear them!

I have a free video and slides on how to find that data that I did a presentation at a local REIA group and my wife recorded it on her iPad if you want to connect with me if that is the kind of data you want.

Minor cosmetic updates might be doable while the tenant is present, while extensive renovations are better suited for an empty property. 

Presently I do have a franchise commercial RE broker (NAI) but I do not feel he is hustling for the $80k commission he is contracted to receive for just marketing my property on their website and told me he made some phone calls.

BRRRR didn't work for me in Indiana - ARV not high enough, renovation costs over budget and I'm at a huge disadvantage being 2000 miles away.The people I've seen do this in recent years are high earning tech workers in CA making $200,000+ for a single person or $400,000+ married couple and they were able to scale pretty quickly from 2015 to the present and leave their W2 jobs. 

I want to get a present for someone who just passed his sales associate real estate exam.

B neighborhoods present a sweet spot for investors, balancing potentially stronger rental yields with manageable property values.

What questions do I ask to make sure they can get the job done without me being physically present for months on end?

I don't know why your lender would even be presenting that to you if he truly understood your goals of investing.

Not that easy like they present.