We are trying to negotiate a lower purchase price (I'm hoping for $275k) and found out tenants pay for gas and electricity. 

I'm pretty excited to have found this community. 

Randomly, I've found a good lead, that on the face things, looks like it might have milage, but I don't know the area, and and a few States away.

If you want to do rehabs, I have found time and time again, the lowest risk when doing a rehab is to refinance it and hold it long-term when you're done. 

I experimented, and I found that after the note buyer starts buying greater than 50% of the note, the return starts to approach the face value of the note's return (in this case, I used 10% int rate). 

So I found a home that has a 4/4/6 school rating on great schools.

Those records are found free, in your county recorders office.

I have found attending real estate investment groups to be a great tool of finding investments.

So I’ve found what looks like a great deal and has plenty of room for error.  

I found podcasts and BP more recently but I had learned most the big stuff by then lol.