If I continue working at my current employer I probably wont be able to afford anything in my area anytime soon. 

First, the owner said that he wont vacate because he was worried about loosing out on his rental income if we didn't close.

Since she wont let you see the house, assume the worst repair wise and plan for a gut job.

But hey, all good....I don't mind the remote thing.. just wont make the same mistakes again...

@Miho HatanakaNot sure what my computer is up to but it wont let me quote your post lol. 

I had a fire in a bedroom of live-n-flip two weeks after I purchased it and luckily only the carpet suffered any major damage. 

So I purchased a property in Pawtucket, RI with a Fannie Mae (and home ready) conventional loan at 5% of the purchase price + closing costs and no sellers assist so I got in for like 20K (the property was turn-key new mechanicals/ roof etc. and I wont have to do any major rehab on the property in the next 5 years hopefully.) 

It just seems that after taking the equity and then acquiring a mortgage payment, there wont be much left as far as profit. we will be managing, rehabbing, and assuming this job without profits.

I'm assuming that lenders wont want to extend a business line of credit without rental history to back it up?

If you are optimizing primarily for appreciation vs. cash flow, you can push a but closer in to the city center, but your price points will push to $300 and up, and the GRM/cap rate will suffer.4) Other things to consider - are you only making 1 investment?