Picture a hockey puck that is not as deep, but has a larger radius. 

I have done deals for instance in Grand Junction CO  its not out of state and prices are about what you would pay for same quality in a lot of other markets.. so that's just one I know.The issue with those going out of state which is CODE for Mid west or deep south " cash flow markets" along with some rust belt cities.is investor shoot themselves in the foot so many times.. they set this goal of trying to make a certain COC return and that generally puts them in a higher risk asset and all the associated problems that come along with them and are magnified when you are out of state and busy.If you take any of the cities in the cash flow markets and determine the median price for a home in said market  for example Indy is about 135k  if you buy SFR at 135 to 150k those can and are safe investments as long as you go look at them and make sure they are sound.. what happens is investors especially reading the BRRRR stuff get sucked into buying 50 to 75k props and that moves you into higher or high risk areas and many times you will lose money on low end homes if you only own one .. you never get to scale like your dreaming of with BRRRR because the homes don't preform and you decide heck that did not work.. 

But hay come down the oil is deep and there's money everywhere right now just make sure you have a truck load of money and an exit plan. 

Can I just remove the fluids - deep clean with Clorox and then repaint the unit?

You're looking between 4-9 feet deep to find the line.

For $69 monthly plus $99 deductible per repair call, and they’ll pay you $500 to pay towards any piece of appliance they can’t fix.For the $69 monthly, they cover every appliance in the house including all fixtures, HVAC system with 2 complimentary checks during spring/autumn seasons, garage doors/motors, and electrical systems, etc.Now I know there are people with horror stories but for us personally, they’ve replaced our oven, fixed our fridge and deep freezers, electrical system, and have already taken advantage of their HVAC checkup.Would this be something of an added protection for our properties moving forward and maybe roll it onto the rent?

Also, we don't hesitate to change PM when we have been unhappy, which we've done several times.In the sales process, you really have to dig deep to get references from customers that have had multiple turnovers and problems to be addressed to get a sense of how they operate through problems.

For the last month I’ve been doing a “deep dive” (thanks BP podcast for the lingo)  into learning about REI.

Then dive deep into educating yourself on that one strategy. 

Property management is key to a good long investment, so do a deep due diligence on that as well, don't lock yourself into a 1-year commitment, and don't hesitate to be hands-on and proactive with them, and then switch if you find it necessary.