My first question is do I pick a good, better, best system that costs from less to more $$ and do I justify the more expensive energy efficient system to grab a little higher rents since tenants will save money.

And just the other day, I was grabbing coffee with a friend who reps a group of invsetors out in San Antonio.. they got burned early on by not clarifying their rental criteria, picking up a triplex that sounded good on paper but turned out to have a revolving door of problematic tenants.A baseline business plan isn’t just a mind-numbing exercise.. it’s the guardrail that keeps your momentum from swerving off into the ditch.

I'm in the processes of picking up a 20-pack of studio's around the same threshold.

I would not let a GC pick finishes - especially if its a flip - if anything get a realtor to assist.In regards to doing this from afar, I recommend hiring a project manager for a few grand per month to oversee the project for you, if not you are relying 100% on the GC which is not something I recommend. 

okc market is at historic lows for leasing(especially September) it has picked up some in Oct. 

I am reviewing the spreadsheet on bigger pockets on how to pick a market to start investing.  

Are these students just picking up and moving in the middle of the semester?

For example, the owner's name or the property's name (I picked this one).

For Livermore, the activity is slower compared to the general Bay Area so you would need to be more cautious on picking the right property to flip, and the margin has to be large enough for it to make sense.

Just pick your properties correctly.