Whether you are investing for Cash flow, appreciation, looking for value add, or just tax benefits.I first build out my buy box, which the more narrow it is, the better (multi family, 3 units, in XYZ zip code, at this price point per sqft, build after XYZ year......). 

I don’t mind paying the appraisal for it to be done.

I would pay the sellers mortgage since it is the same amount as my 1st.

However, tax laws treat tenancies less than 6 months differently than tenancies more than 6 months.

will this help anyone who uses property managers and keeps QB for taxes, mortgage, amortization and depreciation?

Cold outreach is all about volume because you are trying to find the 0.5% of sellers who are motivated to sell.If you are looking for leads of sellers who are already looking to sell, you are better off doing inbound marketing such as SEO or PPC, or buying leads from companies that run their own PPC campaigns, which are called PPL (Pay Per Lead).For PPL, I would recommend https://propertyleads.com/

They claim it will boost property value.It might, but I feel like that is should I should have known about prior to purchase and I'm also unsure how the city can do this with out permission or paying for it.

Though it may seem to save them money, many homeowners end up with shoddy work being done that isn't to code, and end up paying a fortune to get it corrected.  

Is there a way that I could submit properties to someone and pay them for doing the comps for me? 

I have experience raising capital for down payments if you are prepared to pay investors at this level.