I know a buyer that would offer 10% down for earnest money, but he made it contingent on his personal inspection of the property within X days.

Unfortunately, those are treated as personal expenses and aren’t deductible.As for the repairs and improvements, fixing leaky pipes counts as a repair and can be fully expensed in the current year.

Knowing what i know today, I always encourage new investors to do their first investments with professional guidance if you can find it -not so much the guru courses, but a personal approach from a genuinely experienced investor in the market you are entering.

1. coaching- all of the "coaches" were newbies themselves with about 1 year of experience and about 1 deal under their belts and they always disappear after 2-3 months and get replaced with new "coaches".2. networking- they have a FB group, populated primarily by other newbies. go there to answer questions, and it's likely you'll get other newbies saying "good question". there are lots of newbies hoping to get into a deal, but who wants to put together a team where every single person is brand new with no experience?

The challenge with using a paid option is expecting one person to have all the knowledge you need to succeed unless that person is giving you access to their board. 

We aren't even implementing what we learned because we are too busy dealing with a personal issue and haven't been able to travel much for the last couple of years.

Cameras showed it was the pest control person.  

@Francisco J Sanchez I specialize in selling multifamily in the Tucson area... send me a personal message if you'd like to connect.

I'd also buy/sell it in person before the IRS started cracking down.I only had one person pay in BTC. 

you need a team, and the best way to set up a team and look at properties is in person.