I would prefer to have PM in place as well as a tenant in place, or at least know that the deal will not close until the tenant is in place.For full transparency provide a list of comps dated within the most recent month and only about 1-2 mile radius max (we know you need to make money on the sale but would help establish trust).Communication seems to be one of the biggest pain points I read about so maybe focus on that as well.

This situation makes me think how so many people believed the lie the US govt told people that their home is their biggest asset Well ah yes if you want to sell and live in a lower priced house. 

Houses are expensive, loans are expensive, no one can make any real money on a 30K (ARV) house. you have to scale bigger, you just have to. my biggest mistake in real estate was going too small early.

I also believe in the longer-term upside of the neighboring city and am excited about the potential equity growth there.I'm curious, for those of you who have invested from afar like this--what single resource or piece of advice will made the biggest impact on my success investing in another city?

Foreclosuresdaily.com is a good source (they also provide probate info). 

Bigger Pockets forms, blogs, books, and podcasts have been my primary source of information, and I've enjoyed every minute of it while learning a lot. 

The biggest downside to a basement room, IMHO, is the footsteps from above.

You can argue about the "50% rule", but I've heard this from multiple sources for apartments.

What have you found to be the best source for direct mailing lists of absentee owners?

it sounded to me like their biggest benefit was that if you tied up properties under their requirements, they had the buyer lined up and you would earn a fee, but if you build a good buyers list, you could do that and not have to give them 7000.