We do our own inspections and usually we do that all in one visit.

@Tony Marcelle  The probate records are still free, but it will require you to visit the Jefferson County probate court rather than assess them online.

We sincerely enjoyed visiting you last summer and appreciate your letting is stay in your STR.This is new territory for me, too, so I will be following. 

Create a list of properties (min of 25) in the area you would like to rent-to-own, make sure you visit all the properties on your list regardless of properties listed by For Sale.

From getting started to closing out a loan, I posted our process in detail here, which might help you: Becoming a Private LenderYou’ll read that our basic process is to only loan to those we’ve met face-to-face, to visit every property, and to never loan far from home.

Do you guys plan a visit to see the house in person and do your rough estimate on your rehab costs and then offer at that point, or do you make a "ballpark" offer on your first point of contact and then modify this at a after you've seen the house or something else?

The ones that are visiting, are they giving you feedback? 

Since it was communicated to me that the property would be unoccupied during the summer (early May-August 12th) I wanted to take that time to improve the property however whenever the tenants and their parents have visited the property periodically during the summer (never staying the night) they have stated that it is “unlivable” due to the bathroom being “gutted” and pieced together slowly but surely (finally finished the rehab of the bathroom today).

Sometimes they will fly or drive in to visit and do a tour with us, but most of them don't.

I'm going to be visiting Duluth MN for a Real Estate meetup and would like to meet as many Duluth investors as possible.