Depends what you are looking for as well but in Lackawanna county the biggest city is Scranton, i'm trying to stay away of Scranton in general but from time to time i come around a deal there which might be worth the effort even for Scranton. 

I agree that you are putting forth reasonable effort to resolve the issue.

When the rate of heat gain is greater than the cooling capacity of the unit it is liable to keep running in an effort to cool the space.

You can partner with a more experienced investor/rehabber...and use your time and effort, in addition to a few bucks, to partner in a deal or so.  

Pretty low effort approach.  

But, it is possible to go to a portfolio lender, usually a smaller bank with 20% down and get a mortgage if you have some related management experience, or financial management job, like an insurance agent, F&I guy at a dealership, general manager in business where you can show dealing with the public and collection efforts that relate to landlord activities. 

I will appreciate your efforts.

So, since I've lived in or around the Raleigh, Garner and Clayton areas most of my life; I would like to focus my REI buy and hold efforts in these areas.  

It will take time and effort to find such folks and develop that relationship to the point where someone is willing to hand you (ok, the title company) a big check.

and we have 3~4 deals in the pipe line which we should be going to contract next monthMy main point is, you'll get the most out of your efforts by working with people who've already been investing for some time (doesn't have to be 20 years), and know their stuff where you can work in their environment that'll help you learn-by-doing, with not only specific information, but more importantly, those little nuances that you can't learn from a book, or just by meeting someone at a networking meeting (and I go to those as well).