Looking to be an investor from Iowa, looking to make connections and learn.

Around the toilets and bath tubs, feel the floor to see if it is soft, this is an indication of rotted wood floors, big issues.Roof look for double layer of shingles or age. you can look in the city, permit search, for the last time of replacement, if they tell you is new ask for the permits.Sewages and water lines, yes Cast Iron and black pipes (mostly commercial) can be an issue but look for the clean out and how far it is from trees.

I'm in ABQ and would love to grab coffee sometime.

I do realize that's a potential downfall and I understand why that can be an issue.

If an offmarket deal is really, really good, it won't be an off market deal for very long because these things tend to come to light in this type of market.

I’ll definitely give you a call soon and would love to meet up for coffee or lunch

very tough to do right now. there was a wholesaler over in Salida LA who posted about spending 10k on direct mail finding many leads  NONE would work for flippers and referring them off to an agent who then listed and sold them and of course the agent cannot legally pay a non licensed agent a referral fee other than a cup of coffee.. so there you have someone spending 10k thinking wholesaling was the bee's knees generating market leads which are the vast majority then giving all that away and not making a dime.. 

What job could I get now to be an asset to an investor?

If your goal is to net $1,000 a month and that means the property needs to be purchased at $X then you are good to go.If you get some construction loan there is going to be an appraisal anyways that can be used as a renegotiation tool if necessary.

Let's drink, smoke, or have coffee and enjoy a face-to-face meeting like old times.