I still have friends in college and my girl friend still has two more years of schooling for her master's degree which makes finding tenants fairly easy.

Just need the right agent that can properly guide a person through the hardship package.

Entities must be registered with the SoS, and annual information filing should be easy enough to get for a buck. 

I think my wife was spread thin and could not deal with the issue as effectively as we could have if I was in town but it  was not an easy issue to deal with. 

Any sort of shortcut is not to replace a proper analysis and thorough due diligence, but if you're analyzing a ton of deals, a quick a shortcut may be helpful to determine if a deep analysis is warranted.

They exist, but they aren't always easy to find.

There may be ethical reasons to not assign a contract (my personal opinion is that (1) if the contract provides seller financing or other terms that rely on the performance of the buyer after the closing, it is unethical to switch buyers without the seller's permission or (2) if you haven't properly vetted the assignee or used language to prevent them from also assigning to someone who can't perform and you are not able to close if they fail to, that is not fair to the seller) but that is a personal opinion not a legal distinction.I'd be interested in taking assignment of your contract if it is a truly profitable deal. 

I am watching numerous BiggerPockets videos and taking advice on how to properly control my finance for this adventure.

My lease also says I am authorized to show it to potential buyers or renters with proper notice.Some tenants fight this and I typically let it go because I know they'll sabotage any showings anyway.

Transition all tenants over to your own rental agreement as soon as you can.Inspect each unit by giving proper notice to enter.