Since this report isn't for a lender, you could have an appraiser do a drive-by appraisal of a listing you might consider without actually needing access to the property.

I was driving to the west coast years ago and made the grave mistake of driving right through the middle of Chicago during a Friday evening.

Will depend on several factors like the type of property, type of tenants, your risk tolerance, other assets you own, your estate planning, laws where the property is located, etc.An LLC is a good idea if you're worried about liability in that as @Christopher Phillips said, any lawsuits would be limited to the assets of the LLC and not your personal assets (assuming you run the LLC appropriately and the corporate veil is not pierced). 

, reading books, analyzing deals, reading through the forums, driving neighborhoods and so on. 

If you were crushing it in the rental world and needed a place to park your cash then rates would factor in much more.

I have been driving for dollars in the Jacksonville Metro area.

As far as the tax benefits and investing, it shouldn't be the deciding factor of an investment, but it is a fringe benefit.

Would you drive a car without insurance, own you property without insuring it, then don’t sell your property without protecting yourself by using a professional.

You just need it towed out of there (probably legally) Or maybe you have a friend that can break in, hotwire and drive it down to the nearest walmart and leave it parked there, then someone else will handle it!

It's not really the realtor's job to drive around and personally view specific houses for someone that may or may not come to work with them.