I am not an expert on rubber roofing, but have hired a few to do roofs for us.

I would hire an agent to do a BPO and give you a value.

you could also hire a mobile notary.. to go to their home and have them sign.

Hire them.  

They will not be on site to fix for thousands less with little effort, they will incur extra costs due to the requirement to hire management since they are out of state owners. 

A few ideas:1)You could freelance to help REI companies or individuals stand up their company websites in exchange for money and/or REI mentoring.2)You could stand up a "We buy houses for cash" type website, use some SEO and other developer tricks to drive traffic there, and use it as your primary marketing channel for lead generation.

You can put your equity into a nicer neighborhood with better tenants and less capital expenditures (if you aren't already in a nice neighborhood) and also reduce your involvement by hiring a property management company.

Can I start the company and hire an agent to sign the leases and list the properties?

If you have ever been a technology hiring manager (and many other hiring managers as well) in the last couple of decades, you have probably experienced the incoming 'stack' of resumes when a position is posted.

By the looks of it i would say your Dad is right, it looks like the concrete has deteriorated due to water. you do not need a foundation co. just hire a mason to cement it back up inside, but first take care of the cause on the outside, get that leader pipe to drain away from the house by either extending the pipe above ground or dig a shallow trench and run a pipe under ground away from the house. also make sure the soil around the house is pitched away so that water moves away from the house.