I usually will say who referred me to them and say that they are a friend, neighbor, family, etc and will then ask what their lead times usually are for work to be completed, how they communicate, are they comfortable working with me being out of state, how do they collect payment (terms and preferred method) and do they offer a business rate?

You should just identify your methods. 

If you can wait 10-15 years, then you can invest in higher quality assets that potentially give you higher yields.

Good agents are a great source of knowledge , boots on the ground and can refer quality contractors.  

Find Brandon's videos on YouTube for the "four square" method of analyzing homes and practice.

When competing on quality; owner occupants vs rental neighbors, owner occupants usually have better properties.

Put in a decent quality three or four bulb light in larger rooms and two bulb in smaller office/bedrooms.Think about the math, if you have 10 rentals with ceiling fans in all the living rooms and bedrooms. 

They filed complaints with the city between court dates to keep things pending and they used any method they could find to cause continuances.

It looks like the process in Miami-Dade County (MDC) is quite different, with apparently judicial foreclosures being the predominant method for power of sale enforcement.

@Anthony DelVecchioTo house hack a property, rent it out after the first year, obtain another FHA loan if necessary, refinance the FHA loan into a conventional loan, use a conventional loan for subsequent properties, and repeat the process to acquire additional properties, diversify financing methods, consider different property types, leverage equity, and network with real estate professionals.Good luck!