Once you have that under wraps, you can look at deals with a calm mind and properly evaluate the deal. 

@Seth KitchkaAnd the 2nd part to your question - yes every month you'll need to enter the mortgage payment by hand, however as we've alluded to - doesnt take much time at all, even if you had 15 mortgage payments to concern yourself with.You'd just go to the corresponding bank accountVendor -- XYZ Bankchoose the property the payment corresponds with for each of the items belowthen the breakdown of the payment Interest   150Principal 250Escrow 100--------------------At the bottom of this entry Buildium will automatically add everything up for you - so just make sure it matches what your payment was for the month -- you'll simply have to refer to the mortgage statement every month to do this - no big deal if you can log in to the mortgage account online.

To find your niche you really need to evaluate what you want out of Real Estate.  

I am evaluating my options to invest into real estate.

We had heard of a police being at the house but this charge was not in the police log when I checked.

If you are confident in the value today as is, or the value that other investors would pay as is, your nervousness will lessen.Check out the free beginners guide under the learn tab above and it will help you evaluate this deal.

should we find the investors first, get their property criteria, and then look for the property that fits that criteria, or do our own evaluations and then find investors that like our selections, or a combination of both?.....

I can certainly evaluate the options.

While she obviously cannot help me with any properties due to the distance, is it possible for her to give and ethical/professional for me to ask for her access credentials to log into the MLS?

I'm evaluating my first potential commercial deal and it hit me: What professionals should i have lined up BEFORE I put in a bid?