I reserve about 20% of rent for expenses, and that is with all new mechanicals.

Rent rolls, expenses and find out the age of all mechanicals/roof etc for cap ex repairs needed immediately or down the road.

I would also recommend a good general contractor who has a good eye for things and is organized, I pay mine $100 to go look at the distressed property and take a walk through video and tell me what needs replacing such as subfloors, mechanicals, roof, ect.

The mechanics are easy, but you are dealing with distressed sellers and situations. 

Hello all, I think this will be kinda long, so I'm gonna try and give you a quick summary if you don't want to read it all:Current diesel mechanic, just turned 30, living in Austin, TX, looking for more lucrative career options that don't involve $50k and 6 hours/day of college.

My name is Zach McHugh and I am a recent graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

A mechanic, a magician, a mindreader.

And don’t worry about the flares, they are a safety mechanism.

Are there mechanisms of some sort that I should have in place in order to execute in this fashion? 

Roofing, electrical, rough plumbing, mechanical, sheet rock, floor finishing are all things you are probably better off hiring out.