Build professionals around you- Lenders, Title and Escrow, Insurance Agents, General Contractors, RE Agents.

Are there any questions one could ask that could at least give one enough of a feel for the condition of the property to be able to make an educated guess, make the offer, and then adjust from there if necessary after I DO pay a professional to inspect the property?

If your intent was to hold the property for productive use and you can demonstrate that wit past practice, documentation of conversations with your professionals, rental agreements, actual rent, etc then you could indeed do a 1031 because your intent was to hold and something external changed that intent.And the unsolicited offer is the gold standard of something that can change your intent. 

The pro-version is actually used by professional services like architects and contractors.

I'm a young professional, I'm hungry for new opportunities, and a hard-worker.

I am a professional painter but do not know much about carpentry.

While out there, meet with professionals that you will need to build up your team.

With insurance and  the ability to demonstrate you are a professional, a property manager may be comfortable with their couple thousand a month in rent in exchange for you using listing their unit.

Just make sure you think this through, and hire professional help.

There are some smaller "dying" towns around the country that are offering attractive incentives to young professionals (and maybe even retirees) who choose to relocate.