Ian,I'm in the middle of my first broker selection process here in Virginia so I'm by no means an expert but I have had several interviews already.

I'm actually in the process of refinancing one of my properties.

If the taxes are being paid by the bank then it is a good guess that the property is Bank Owned.My suggestion would be to find a local Real Estate Agent with REO experience and talk to them about the property.The whole process is long and slow,  Patience is key

Is no reason to be put down by a "Generation x" style thought process.

Hello everyone, I have a situation not sure how to handle because I'm new to landlording business. I purchased a quad to house-hack a tenant moved out the week I closed on the property and I had a hard time contacting...

You definitely need some people you trust there in the ground over looking the project if you can't be there yourself.

I did a drive by on a property today where we are in the process of evicting a tenant for non-payment of rent and noticed that tenant has cardboared up some of the front windows of the house. 

From the sounds of it, everything was pretty smooth sailing throughout the whole process for your first project, that's great! 

Over the long haul, I like to look at using IRR and time value of money, which includes the whole process of buying, income/expenses and selling the asset.

I would recommend reading the blogs, scanning the forums and attend your local REIA to learn about the processes and the players in your market.