You'd figure, this is a tiny house.

The basements/garages are tiny (600 sq ft) and only a small car would fit.  

These are things that are cheaper when you hire contractors who specialize in those things, as they can get discounts on the materials, they own the tools and they can finish the job in probably a third the time as a handyman.For example, painters can generally get paint for 30-40% less than a handyman just based on quantities they buy. 

It's a NNN, but there is a tiny strip of land that isn't leased out.

So I'd start by first looking at markets where you might have some tiny connection to help you along the way.

In my opinion, after Katrina, two big factors led to the quantity of foreclosures, and I believe neither will have nearly the same impact in Houston and surrounding area.1) A substantial portion of New Orleans' population left and has never returned.  

Virginia;MilitaryBackground StoryI bought a duplex in November 2016 in Virginia but after I bought the property I hired a PM because I had to move to Mississippi for 9months and I had nobody in VA to overlook the property and collect rentI inherited 1 tenant and my PM acquired the other side.Predicament (because I'm nervous) & QuestionsPredicament I want to get rid of my PM because I want to have the stress of being a Landlord with small quantity of Units so when I acquire more units in future and hire a PM I will know everything there is to know or at least enough to not get toyed around and taken advantage of.Ive read Brandon Turners Book, For dummies book, Virginia Landlord and Tenant Act which were beneficial.

She was adamant that she does not want to list or work with a realtor (her mom lives with her and they have the tiny house packed with stuff) - though she has "called around" and thinks her house is worth maybe $450K when it's more like $415K as-is... so I'll need to reset expectations since my offer will be around $335K.QUESTION: What is a good way to lock up a deal with her given her longer timeline?

Even then, you have things you can't decipher without actually going through the property (bad/good floor plan, tiny/huge/awkward layout bathroom).

Be one of the tiny minority of agents that has a clue about rental property rules.