They have the worst attention span and reading comprehension, and they don't want to reveal their income, only citing that I should trust them, they can afford it...after they just told me they got evicted from their last apartment in December because they couldn't afford it on their Denny's waitress wage.

Our company does fairly thorough inspections but we still are not as invasive or thorough as an certified home inspection.Lastly, plan for the worst.

The worst thing is that we really get very few services for our taxes, i.e. no city water, i have a septic system on my property.

My opinion since I made the mistake already :) was that if I had to get on a plane to go see the property, it becomes a much more expensive proposition to deal with and I was less likely to do it.

The more you learn the less major mistakes you will make.  

You may need a larger down payment or a lower purchase price to make it work.Do a worst case analysis: what's the ROI if  you go all cash - - it that doesn't work, then abort and stop fussing as it would never pan out.

Learn from mistakes/improving on already successful ideas 3.  

Like anywhere in the US, the best "deals" are in the worst parts of town.

Worst case scenario: Seller decides to accept and signs, despite your oral reservations about the contract you had signed.

I just like to look at worst case scenarios on properties, and if I am okay with those, I do the deal...