The house was completely re-modeled upon purchase and in a way that made renting out the bottom seamless: 1,600 SQFT up and 1,600 SQFT bottom, BOTH having 3bd/2ba, each having FULL range kitchens, laundry rooms, living/family rooms, dining rooms, completely separate entrances (walk-out basement accessed around side yard), and bifurcated parking spots.  

See my recent discussion/post, ‘How to Spot Loan Scams on Social Networking Sites.’ 3.

I've seen it be spot on, I've seen it be $200k off appraised value.

I saw people working on a vacant house so I pulled over and talked to them, made offer on the spot and accepted a few days later. 2 .

Brian Gibbons is spot on.

How do I research within a distant city, what spots are worth investing in or not?

We got in a bidding war once, and it was very stressful, and walking turned out to be our smart move too.You are spot on that you cannot put too much energy into lining up the finances.  

I just went over to  a house I have been considering buying over the past few months , and did a Lead Paint test on various spots on the exterior of the house...... and sure enough, it tested positive for Lead paint.My question/concern is ..... what will be required to get the house appraised and or Inspected and approved for an FHA 203K loan ?

If it's not in the heart of where all the crime is (or even better, it's in a spot where it could possibly turn over and gentrify), then it may not be that big of a factor.

My zip and the surrounding seemed pretty spot-on.