I have been trying to research and have left messages and sent emails with no response to the HUD link I was referred to.

We obviously handle the ones near us in-house, but hiring someone in another market to work one day a month is a bit of an odd task.My guess is that remote property management companies need to have a sort of Swiss-army-knife person in the area that can do many variable tasks for them and works on an hourly basis as there may not always be things to do, but I don't know that for a fact.How do remote/long-distance property management companies overcome the challenges of not being in the area?

As Dave mentioned you’ll have to buy as much as you sell.

I don't have exact floor plans, so I'm not sure if it would qualify for the 51% apartment sq. ft. necessary for a mixed use dscr loan. 

I have family in construction who have looked at it and feel it has fairly solid bones and I like the location and think it's on the way up.

A lot of the meetup groups also have a facebook group where they can meet/network outside of regular meetings.

This is like asking does anyone have anything cool to say about pizza. 

If you don't, the next seller (ie the person buying your flip) will have an inspection done and then ask for $ to cover a new septic. 

I have a feeling that they are going to ask us to meet a reserve price, but I don’t know how much sense it will make to increase my offer.

Forget about the CC points, that's like stepping over dollars to pick up pennies IMO.