I’d put it under contract and assume a certain amount of money to repair.

Who knows, it was still a small sample size and I'd have to assume that the tenants were telling the truth and not trying to take advantage of a new owner/PM.  

I haven't been able to dig really deep to see if there are any next of kin, but I'm assuming that's where I need to start. 

The appraisal and credit report -- I assume they were obtained in order to obtain a mortgage?

I guess I was assuming it was slow here because I had called about a few rentals I saw listed, just to feel them out, and they had no pending applicants....but I guess it could have been that they hadn't received any qualified applicants, perhaps. 

While I assume multi unit brokerages are more niche and more challenging to get your ‘foot in the door’, perhaps I could assist a broker or team and start that way.2.

Assuming it is a purchase mortgage, your lender is correct.The disconnect is probably from reading about refinances and/or old pre-recession info and/or reading that you can roll some of the closing costs into a higher interest rate (but not loan amount).

Whenever I considered investing in real estate I always found a reason to not take action whether that be someone saying something negative or assuming that I was only interested it to "get rich quick".

I would assume they've been hit with low balls quite a bit over the 4 years. 

What’s the highest end of finishes you would assume is reasonable for the area?