I am also planning a research trip to Indy over the next few weeks.

We have a rental property in the area that we inspected and did some work on while we were there too as a bonus to the trip.

Changing the ownership to an LLC is helpful but may trip a due on sale if you have a mortgage

If you were driving-for-dollars, took a trip out this year to look for properties, inspection for a potential investment, scope of work for a potential investment or if you incurred incorporation costs, I'd include all of that in my record as my write-offs this year.

Can you do it all from afar or do you need to make at least one trip out in person to generate a SOW and/or to be there for the rehab?

You can download a scanner app for your smartphone for free, so using technology, you could have acted faster and saved yourself a trip.

They are all close enough to get to, but from Colonia you probably don't want to make the trip too often. 

NJ to OH may be a trip but it isn't THAT far.

One investor that I had on the hook equated our market to a bus stop and he was waiting for the right bus.

I'm planing to take a trip down to the midwest in November (Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Indy) to get some understanding on these markets and setup a team in one of these cities.