There are so many variables, especially with older properties.Workers who are honest, dependable, skillful, reasonably priced and personable are worth their weight in gold.

This is a skill I would love to learn as I do not expect to use a realtor for each deal. 

If you have construction experience you could post on Craigslist, see if you could find someone wanting your skill set.

Plus, for the last decade+ there has been a drastic shortage of doctors, nurses, PTs, surgeons, and others.  

@Natasha Graves Finance is a skill that is always applicable - no matter the business.

My skills are not very refined at this point so the search typically involves something along the lines of typing "duplex name of town" into google and checking out what comes up.  

It may cost me up front, but I know the job has been completed a qualified professional and I am building my skills.

If you are looking for someone to estimate rehab costs, you'll need to hire someone with a significant amount of skill and the additional rare trait of the ability to make the judgment call as to the cost of what they cannot see if they can't get inside the property.If you are looking for someone to take the acquisition process off of your hands your risk increases immensely because these folks don't have any money on the line.

It's quite possible to bypass various types of intrusion detectors (for those skilled in doing so), but less likely with redundancy and overlap.

The city fulfills every the Amazon requirements for the second headquarters and has the skilled labor force required by Amazon.