I'm in Livonia / Canton area and I haven't attended any Washtenaw County or Ann Arbor REIA events but I do attend the Oakland County REAI meeting in Troy as well as the Michigan REIA meetings in Troy and they are super helpful and if you sign up to get their emails you can check the topics in advance to make sure it's worth the trip for that meeting.They usually have really good speakers. 

In my experience, good design is good business; building something with character stands out to potential tenants (increased rent) and helps lower vacancy rates.

There are plenty of benefits associated with building strong realtor relationships, but you will be sent a ton of "land development" opportunities and most will trip you up if you aren't careful.

I’ve already met that requirement at this point if I include my 6 hour round trip driving to the property from my primary residence every week. 

Doing a search online can reveal a lot about a person’s character and knowledge.

i.e. where the GFCI is for a given circuit, how to tell if the GFCI or breaker is tripped, how to change batteries, etc?

Thank you so much for the deep insights.I just completed my third trip checking out properties in Charleston and your comment definitely helped me out with house hunting.First of all, your comments in tandem to conversation within my network made me re-think of what exactly is my goal with real estate in Charleston?

Although you live miles away, plan a business trip to the area and maybe hire a local attorney to help you track down the owner or owner's relatives and make an offer.  

It took 5 trips from differenr contractors to fix the toilet rhat never stopped running turns out they had the wrong size flapper. 

If not, then likely you will have to pay per trip as the person going will vary greatly depending on the task.