My wife and I had a “corporate meeting” and we made them and offer and ended up purchasing the property for $1K over our offer price at auction.

If an incident occurred not caused by the tenant and the property is as practical matter totally unusable for residential purposes, the tenant may terminate the lease by giving notice to the landlord before repairs are completed.Failure to install, inspect or repair smoke alarmTexas law requires the landlord to install, inspect and repair smoke alarms prior to or at the beginning of the tenant’s lease.

Find Brandon's videos on YouTube for the "four square" method of analyzing homes and practice.

DaveI do not have any instruction to offer.

Buyers expect Sellers to cower in the corner at their amazing low offers as if they are doing the seller a favor.  

I'll take any advice I can get on contractors and and best practices on getting this project done.

Places in the Midwest like Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Kansas City are good for this too, and in the Southeast, cities like Charlotte, Atlanta, and Raleigh-Durham offer cheap buys and lots of renters.

Should we offer preference and less equity?

You can start real estate investing, reading resources, familiarizing yourself with the Albany, GA market, setting short-term and long-term goals, preparing financially, building a team, conducting property searches, conducting due diligence, making an offer, managing property, and joining local groups.

You can also possibly rent it as is separately for another $150-$200/month especially if your comps do not offer garages.