One thing I can say is REO deals are character building forsure.So to sum up the deal.

No leasing fee to the owner, no vacancy fee, trip charge fee, ect.

I hope you at least made a side trip over there while you lived in Australia!

I've been lucky so far in that most of them just want me to come down and drop off a Freedom of Info form and then they'll just hold them for me once they're printed out so I can make one trip around my county to drop off all the forms then one more once they're all ready to pick them all up, bit more difficult than I think it has to be though (Damn you Rebogateway for not having the info available for CT). 

I am making a trip down there in May to scope it out for myself.

I made a trip to KC a few weeks ago to look at some multifamily properties.

It's worth a trip over to check and see for yourself. 

Like I said, I would not mind taking a trip and considering meeting you half way with funds --- but you have to do the legwork.  

This is the one area where all investors get tripped up.

I like this because it has high reviews on trip advisor, we can use occasionally, and it is a nice property.