So, yes, technically your wife can count towards the occupation requirement, but it's geared more for military members PCS'ing or setting up a household in a new location before the veteran can occupy the home, or a member on tour in one of those unaccompanied "hardship" locations where families aren't welcome, or on deployment, not for a couple who live in the same major metropolitan area.  

The whole thing would be fascinating, the honey is likely delicious and if you can get somebody to film the whole process, you've got an amazing show on your hands.The renovations after the bees are gone will be incredibly messy and the vast majority of the drywall, if not all of it, is going to have to go.  

The major disadvantage may be gaining financing.

They are basically god forever unless the property gets a vacant house notice from the city or major permitted repairs are done.

Being remote, I'm not looking to do major rehab for my first deal because I'm still building my network "on the ground" and it feels a little overwhelming, but I am willing to do some cosmetic items to attract the right renters.

There are huge economies of scale when it comes to parking so not every "major" company is in every geography.  

This is my absolute emergency fund...hope to never need it to pay for a major repair....I use about $10k to $20k of this to do some high probability options trading.

Plus most agents are completely unorganized, don't return calls/emails etc. and finding a reliable one in some remote corner of the US isn't worth it to me.The only time I make an exception to this is when I'm researching the property online (zillow, trulia, redfin etc) and while looking at other properties in the neighborhood I see an agent that sold something similar fairly recently.

People act like it's some major legal issue.

So if the mortgage balance is $120,000 but FEMA only pays $30,000 and there is no flood insurance (as the majority of homes did not have) but the repairs are in the $70,000 range, then it will have to go to short sale or foreclosure correct?