Drive a paid for beater.

Once I purchase at tax sale, I drive to the house, gain access and change the locks.

The first thing would be to drive by the property different times of the day and check it out.

Drive through them to see if you would want to invest there.

If not you will need to reduce rents further as they have to drive clothes to the nearest facility.Is this sitting on extra land that I can't see where you could redevelop or sell off??

I can't say much about Seattle, but Dallas has strong fundamentals for cash flow and growth, not necessarily appreciation, but population growth.

I don't want to drive over an hour every weekend and a couple times a week to replace bandit signs.

Richard look up your local real estate investor association.If you go to work for a flipper to learn the business make sure you are not used and abused.Make sure they have completed a certain volume of deals and that they have the knowledge to give you.What investors do not want is to work with someone with no drive who wastes their time.If they will pay you a decent wage that is at least what you are making now or more,you hit it off from the start,etc. then you are on your way.Eventually you can partner with them on some deals when you save up some more cash and they will show you how to save and supplies and do quality repairs and upgrades in a fast manner.

You need to get to the point where you can drive by a property, know the area well enough that you can value it basically while driving, know the costs of bring it up to market by walking through, do your due diligence and arrive at an offer.

The property is 5 acres and 50 years old and a 30 minute drive from their home.