.,...they have to ring the doorbell...........I then will "stop" the group tour briefly.....go open the door............and then i take the "late people" directly to where everyone else is.....This intentionally lets them know that they are not the only ones looking at the property and they generally are on their best behavior because they know they were late.....On a side note I am not worried about someone misbehaving or "borrowing" something while I leave the "on time tour group" because I am extremely confident that they would be "ratted out" very quickly as soon as I return to them

Obviously my opportunity sensor bells started ringing; however, I've never done a deal yet, so i don't even know where to begin.

Areas with no HOA make it easier to discern which houses are most likely vacant, does this ring true in HOA neighborhoods as well? 

I think  purchase price is critical  IE not over paying.If your already going into the deal with the mantra  appreciation is icing on the cake and counting on cash flow to ring the bell.. you want the best price possible and over paying will usually get you into an asset that you would have to cut a pretty large check to exit if you were to sell in the next 5 years.

Purchase Price: 32,000Rehab Budget: 24,000Holding Costs: 30% or 37,500.00Potential profit: 31,500Saying that you will either make around 7K on assignment after you let them talk you down to 30K for the purchase or you will get the attention/mentoring time of someone like @Jeff Rabinowitz  or any of the other successful rehabbers here who have the experience doing what you want to be doing.Instead of looking for Private Money this early in your career after most of the veterans here have all shared on the forums and in other arenas that they weren't able to successfully find private money until they were very open with their track record and most of them will tell you that instead of presenting a singular "solicitation" for private money they first gave the potential investor their 3" Ring Binder full of here's what I've done so far any questions book.The only caveat I can see to the above would agree with the first piece of advice you were given.

I would assume there is a set screw in the rings around the locks, or the ring is threaded and screwed on, on the inside. 

Doug's Map of the War Zones of Pinellas has a nice ring to it...I actually used this site extensively before I moved here 9 years ago.Pinellas Crime Map.

That is what got you in this mess to begin with it sounds like.A contractor that spends 10 minutes formulating a plan and then initiating will usually get farther in the end and faster then the contractor who just starts cutting things right away thinking they are moving faster etc.Proper preparation helps lead to success.In a bad area the property being vacant rings true.

Drop your price $25 a week or so until the phones start ringing away.  

Just gotta get the phone to start ringing first.