Get excellent TV and internet service. 

Orphans court will not speak to a third party and while my internet research has been somewhat successful, there are still some missing pieces.

Out here, you can't get into conventional loans on amounts below about 65K and frequently we end up paying for an appraisal and the underwriter can come back with the determination that the property can't be financed due to condition.

Maybe you need a professional, maybe you don't, but you'll be better able to make that determination once you've gotten their input.I would say your money will be better spent preventing the problem than installing heat tape.  

How criteria should I use to determine who is a good agent?

Trying to determine if the bank owns it or if the original owners are still involved.

I assume taxes are current if the local municipality hasn't taken the property back.If you can determine the amount of discount you'd get and add in the rehab cost to turn it into a SFH you can see if it's worth it.If you haven't already, verify that current zoning allows residential.

The first step is to determine how much time you can devote to real estate investing: it will help you narrow your focus to either passive or active RE investing.

I was thinking of getting a cost segregation done to place a value on the infrastructure and improvements, and then add that to the tax appraised land value to determine my basis.

I was thinking of getting a cost segregation done to place a value on the infrastructure and improvements, and then add that to the tax appraised land value to determine my basis.