Investing in real estate is far from passive, you are not going to escape have to put in many long hours although the work is obviously far less physical than farming it can be high stress.

., as opposed to a physical notebook that would get messy after awhile.  

As permanent as the apartment building; physically merged into it.

Eviction does not just remove a person from a unit physically: it is the legal process for the LL to terminate the lease via the courts and recover full possession of the property. 

Even general growth direction such as 10-20 years ago knowing Collin county areas such as Frisco, Colony, Plano, etc.. north of Dallas would grow so much knowing all the planned developments of Dallas cowboys and Toyotas of the world, or does this type of stuff happen so quick relatively that you can't research with public records/websites until you starting physically seeing the development and having to make a judgement call at that point?

Considering their analysts have not physically inspected the property in person and going by what they can see they are making fairly good predictions.

Yeah, my loan would incorporate all of the rehab and purchase price of the home itself into one big, interest only loan. 

So between my acquisition and renovation phase, I probably spend on average 20 hours between management of my contractors, coordinating materials, designs, or even physically assisting in the renovation, though 95% of it I sub out.

EXTREMELY long distance.Here is is the hard bottom line to your issue.You need to be able to trust the person physically evaluating the property.If you are unsure, then wait.

While living there take average of say 6-8 months to get idea and incorporate that into the rent price, only if rents can be suitable for your rental market.