Then once I have that general feel for the city I would want some more in depth advice from locals.Are there any areas I should absolutely stay away from?

. - SEO is absolutely an effort that takes patience, consistency, and intentionality.  

Between the two of us we have around $75K invested, but we would rather not touch that money unless absolutely necessary, because we would have to liquidate and overall it seems a hard money loan, depending on how much it costs us, would actually end up saving us money as opposed to cashing out our investments and then reinvesting in 60 days. 

@Joe Villeneuve You're absolutely right! 

Sometimes the title of the deed is clear (like “Warranty Deed” at the top of the instrument), but that could be meaningless if the internal wording is incorrect or less than an absolute warranty of title.

Those taxes would absolutely have to be paid by you or the seller before title changes ownership, no doubt. 

I would absolutely get one if my state allowed me to.

The definition of true passive investing is this : "regardless of any time you spend on that particular investment, whether it be 5 minutes, 5 hours, 5 days, it has absolutely no influence on the outcome of that investment".  

There is absolutely no truth to that and I'm curious where you heard that from.

I believe one of the absolute best ways to find deals is to network and use the tools that are already at your disposal.