@Ryan Billingsley Right now we are just in Kansas City and even at that we haven't put a lot of time into growing our presence there.  

I liked BofA for their national presence when I traveled a lot for work.

You might consider using a taskrabbit or fiver - compose a list you're interested in, either from driving for dollars or from that horrible list from the assessor and then give it to a taskrabbit - pay them to go down to the assessors office and manually look up the address - that is what I'm working on now because I have a 8-5 gig: if you have time during the week then you can hit the office your self.

In Houston the "slums" are seeing active construction and increasing government presence (beautification agendas, active city notices to clean up, etc.) as there is a mass movement for "urban living" within these areas 15 min or less to downtown/medical center.

I would ultimately like to automate the business so that my physical presence isn't necessary all the time.Right now, my hang up on living in LA while investing out of state is that I am still paying my ever increasing rent.

Smaller banks are more personable (at leas what I found after venturing out) and you can get to know who the loan officers are so when you have questions they don't mind helping you.Recently, I was searching for a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) and went to a smaller local bank that just happen to have a presence in other cities, nothing like Chase, WF, or BofA but nonetheless they have a small presence.

they raised ours to $85.00 /Yr to pay for extra police presence. 

Without a physical presence in America and a limited internet connection, I fear I am incapable of garnering a foothold without being conned.

I recommend going to LoopNet.comSearch for properties in areas that you want to invest in and see what Realtors have lisitngs and or a presence on the site.You should be able to find a bunch that are actually doing business that wayGood Luck!

The reason for this is it increases your touches (we all know it takes multiple touches before a customer "acknowledges" your presence in most cases) without increasing your costs.