I asked him to show me the damages and among others he pointed to the driver side mirror which was broken off but when I looked closely, the area was all dusty and dirty which means that it was an old damage.

The old laws on the books, if enforced, were sufficient IMO.I guess the gov't wants all of the hundreds of thousands of people living in "Lonnie deal" homes to instead just rent their homes and deal with the cut-off water, the no air-conditioning repair, the roach and vermin infestation, the leaking toilet, the broken dishwasher that their landlord refuses to repair while the local courts get an influx of eviction cases. 

Recently I've been considering purchasing $20k-50k homes that are in good condition and tenant-occupied, so my question is, does anybody have any tips for a first-time out-of-state investor?

I recently read in Malcolm Gladwell's book "The Tipping Point" (pg72) that "what separates a great salesman from an average one is the number & quality of the answers they have to the objections  commonly raised by potential clients" or sellers in our case.  

Because the tax bill is in the name of my LLC now, I'm sure asking the county to bill the mortgage company would still tip them off, but you never know.

After all, they're just working for "tips".If you focus on the deal and not being cheap, you'll have a much better chance of attracting both money and profits.

Jeff Tumbarello thanks for the tip Jeff!

Thank you all very much for the welcomes, warm wishes, suggestions, and tips! 

It's good to celebrate success and great tip on Craigslist kitchen shopping.

Thanks again for the tip.