If I were a more seasoned investor and you approached me with this deal as an absolute newbie I would be extremely hesitant.

You will find a lot of great information from many well seasoned investors.My first suggestion is to always have a exit strategy.  

Before I found this out though I gathered from our phone conversation that this was a gentleman and his wife that are retired and no longer are living in this house and I believe they are free and clear from the mortgage, although I will find this out tomorrow.

In the meantime I would like to find a seasoned investor to do some "Bird Dogging" for.

However, after enough seasoning, I would then refinance the property after raising the value with improvements.

You've elaborated much more on the older tenant, so it's hard to decide whether or not the younger one is good.

I realize that this is an older post but was curious to see if you were able to find a lender that was willing to finance the loan.  

For that, you need to wait for their mandatory seasoning period - usually 6 months.Banks are sticklers that way.

New investors approach things differently and agents may want to work with seasoned investors.

Managing across country for a seasoned investor might work, but my personal opinion is that it would be tough.