As a former Uber, I know those Schedule C self-employment taxes can catch you off guard. 

What the average monthly rent is ( I look on rentometer.com but not sure if that's accurate),  and from a crime standpoint, would I need guard dogs in the house to protect my investment?

We  use REI guard :)

Anyway, go to the auction, find out what you will need before going so you are not caught off guard when you get there, already have the price you are willing to pay writing down on a piece of paper. 

I re-explained the deal to him using obscure explanations to guard the deal.

You may want to look st REI Guard out of KC if they insure your market.

However, while searching for an answer for my questions, I came across lots of threads geared toward wholesalers saying to collect a non-refundable portion of their fee to help guard against people just bailing.

People let their guard down and at the very least they are more open to talking to you about things you would otherwise never learn.

My wife is active duty in the Coast Guard and will be stationed in Staten Island.

This caught me off guard because it hadn't been mentioned to me previously that a broker would be involved BUT I have been reading bigger pockets and studying the processes, terms and lingo so I recovered myself quickly and began answering his questions about rent, length of lease, terms etc.