I'm a new investor, have not unlocked any deals at the moment.

I briefly helped an out-of-state Morris investor/victim by doing a drive by/walk through/photos for his Indy property.

If your townhome is more than $350k, I would probably say better to sell, unlock the value, and invest somewhere else.

They moved out end of this October (as you read from my first post they gave us noticed October 19th), and early November when we went to check it out we found our home in the worse terrible shape.I even included photos. 

What you should pragmatically expect instead is that you'll hire a contractor who offers you a so-so price and promises you the earth and sky, shows you beautiful photos of work he's supposedly done in the past, but ends up turning in something that doesn't quite meet your expectations or design vision.

Yes there's more to learn when it comes to representing sellers (if we do it correctly, that is, not just shlepping a house onto the market), but you'll have to learn it sometime and rather than waiting 5 years until your buyers are ready to sell, it makes sense to learn from more experienced agents as soon as possible.Do everything you can to become familiar with listings, even if you start out just by touring a lot of open homes and looking at the agents' marketing pieces, the words they use in their marketing language, who takes the best home photos and how they do it and which photographer they use, etc.  

Sometimes if a house is overpriced or has bad photos that effects the saves. 

I'll be requesting detailed photos and video walkthroughs from both the provider and an independent contractor/assessor.

Take a look at some photos below to see some of the things you should be prepared for if you engage in investing in these blighted areas.

Our courier, will visit the properties, take photos, get our agreements signed, basically whatever is needed.