I plan to only live about 2-5 miles away from the home (it's a small town) so I could still stop by to do routine maintenance and/or yard work and just check on things in general. 

Meaning I have he connections to help get the property cleaned, repaired, and rent ready.

Hi-We're making an offer to buy SFR.How can we add terms to require the property is title clean, free of any lien (tax lien etc)?

If you can offer nice, clean, fresh and modern you will always be fully rented.On another note: I totally get it.

I have now jumped to a more abstract approach contacting extermination companies carpet cleaning companies  and other sources that come in direct contact with landlords And have offered them incentives for leads for those who know landlords ready to sell.

Before replacing it I had it cleaned professionally but odor remained.  

When the bank buys it back at sheriff sale and it goes REO (usually listed on mls), they clean the title and all the liens.

The problems I am running into are due to gaps in certain payments like maintenance and carpet cleaning.

Tent off clean areas. 

To provide some context, I have a 780+ credit score, looking to borrow $142,000 with a completely clean history and no loans.