We ended up tackling this project and it has become VERY PROFITABLE from a money standpoint, but also VERY TIME CONSUMING.  

You might want to do a Yahoo search on MyHouseDeals.com, and you will see a lot of complaints against them for misuse on consumer credit cards.Joe Gore

Pretend you wanted to buy this property and do some some practice analysis to see if you think it would work as a rental investment.In short, I'd recommend just getting as active as you can in consuming as much information through books, podcasts and people as you possibly can.

Unless you are willing to become an expert on Dodd Frank, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, state homestead laws, state foreclosure laws relating to consumer loans and Federal Bankruptcy homestead protection, I would suggest investing only in notes secured by commercial or investment real estate.  

Enough complaints against this person and they can lose their license.As a side note, reference HUD handbook 4150.2 Chapter 3 has some information about what they require out of an inspection and this is a good starting point to go through your houses and try to fix problems before an inspection. 

However, this would be very time consuming if my offer doesn't even get accepted.

It also works in the scenario you painted, but it's pretty time consuming, more risk, and the transaction costs are significant.Rick

(See HUD Handbook 4155.1 for additional information).

I try to remember what it was like to be the consumer at all times. 

You will have to deal with less than ideal tenants and it will definitely consume a lot of your time.