I also feel like I am not able to compete for any hot deals because I can only go down there once a month.Considering the travel costs for scouting properties and the fact that I most likely have to hire a property manager for my rental property am I approaching this the wrong way?

Haven't even tent camped since my son is older than scouts.

I've seen people willing to volunteer their services to a teacher; I've seen people willing to scout deals in return for teaching; I've seen people willing to barter other services in return for teaching; etc.What are you willing to offer?

An since you asked... here is a collection of the free online sources I use for my property evaluations and neighborhood scouting (the entire thread contains updated links): Online Resources

One way to scout for diamonds in the rough is to identify the rundown neighborhoods that border the highly desired ones.

I'll be reaching out if we decide to do more scouting in Detroit though!

That's where most his deals are coming from right now and from wholesalers, but I have been brought on the team to manage off market campaigns and scouting possible on market deals to scale the business to take on more deals. 

The only way I have been able to receive a sufficient answer on the impact of these certificates is to scout out profiles on LinkedIn of people who have the certificate from the school you are seeking and what other background they have and what jobs they have. 

I assume you have scouted the underlying property.

I've been using city-data dot com, spotcrime (which, honestly, is kind of hard for me to interpret) and neighborhood scout.