owning real estate too far away makes visual inspection very difficult. 

City-Data.com is a new one to me, I really like how it presents alot of informaiton visually and statistically.

Something that lets me track my expenses and income per unit/property with visual charts but doesn't have PM features like rent collection and such. 

It is a small lot with no visually encroaching structures close to the property line. 

I'm really hoping for a detailed response so that I can visualize myself approaching the front door and working out the deal until the time I walk out.

For visualization purposes:

The Answer to that, again, lays in the INVESTOR, not the INVESTMENT.If you are not networking with the right people, not talking to your friends and family about Investing, Credit Scores, Mortgage Qualifications, Taxes, etc...... then you MUST DO IT ALONE.AND THAT IS WHY most people will not, or cannot buy in places like NYC and receive such rewards.The readers of this post should take away from this that it's important to do Calculations, to fully understand the Math... to visualize what can be done....

Best way to get to know a city is to go there and drive around, aside from that set yourself a hard budget and window shop on the internet, mark properties you like and properties you don't and you can see a visual representation of that on a map. 

A WordPress site is composed of three elements: WordPress (core) + Theme (visual) + Plugins (additional functionality).

Buyers cannot visualize.