I did do some casual research; asked the neighbors who had owned the house, why she was gone now, did she die?

My belief is that realistic goals, good preparation and careful research on the front end lead to much better outcomes over time.My main comment is on monthly cash flow.

That is worth researching. 

@Joe Delia will be helpful but remember that he not only is an investor but his full time job is being an agent and they need to make a living as well.The more self-sufficient you become in property research the easier it will be to find an 'investor friendly' agent.

Search city and county building departments, multifamily broker's research departments (such as Marcus & Millichap), multifamily lender's research departments (such as Hendricks Berkadia) apartment data providers (such as alndata.com, MPF Research, Axiometrics, Real Data, etc.)

Was just doing some BP research on the topic of vacation investment properties.

A little off-topic, but yes, I have considered investing out of state many times, because based on the research I've done, cap-rates and cash-on-cash returns suck in San Diego, especially if you are using traditional financing like I am.

My research indicates that it's a very straightforward (albeit not always fruitful) process, that doesn't require a judgment enforcement agency if I follow the county's seizure procedures and am willing to pay the upfront costs (probably $500 for court & sherriff's fees).

Just beware that it's not easy to predict the future so research those growth assumptions.

You might get the $5-10k up front as a down payment but that could be eaten up by these repairs/lost rent.In the long term you might make a few more bucks, but the risk is much higher and you have a downside to potentially have to put cash into it to get rid of it, whereas you know your downside with the wholesale deal is $0 if you don't close it.Also with the new Dodd-Frank rules in effect, make sure you understand how those might affect lease options before you jump into one - there are many well researched threads on BP addressing DF right now .