most sellers will lack motivation if their property is not distressed - and you said you don't want something too distressed.

Per inspection the HVAC was from 2009. worried if the place is hiding a smell of some sort because there were several plug ins in the home as well.

The other motivating factor here (for me) is that I want to move my mom into one of the units so she's close by.

Experienced investors often see the holiday season as an opportunity due to reduced competition and motivated sellers willing to negotiate for faster closings.

WE do have a lender who we refer to but we dont advertise or do what others do and have some sort of back end deal with the lender.. 

We obviously handle the ones near us in-house, but hiring someone in another market to work one day a month is a bit of an odd task.My guess is that remote property management companies need to have a sort of Swiss-army-knife person in the area that can do many variable tasks for them and works on an hourly basis as there may not always be things to do, but I don't know that for a fact.How do remote/long-distance property management companies overcome the challenges of not being in the area?

And that is true, but that is also sort of like saying "to mitigate the risk of investing in Apple, and relying on their decisions, I will start my own tech company" (okay, that is a bit extreme, but you get the idea).  

Not 2-hour morning routines or more education/inspiration/motivation/etc.

Get Your Finances Sorted: Make sure you know your budget inside and out.

I found this deal through a conversation with other condo owners, who mentioned that the seller was motivated to sell.