But I am especially interested in learning more about eastern Virginia, because I am clueless about things agricultural zoning, septic tanks, oil heating, to say nothing of legal/financial transactions, which may vary from what I am familiar with in California. 

I do have a good amount of down time to work on upgrading a home, in the winter I essentially don't have to work too much due to the fact that we dont do projects in the winter here in MN.

There's a sticky thread in this forum category titled The Essential Guide on How To Build and Promote Your Buyer's List that is right on point with your question.

It was essentially 4 evenings of the accelerated in-person class.

My problem is financing.Since my existing rental is new (my bank will not accept that rental income until I have had it for one at least one year), it is essentially weighing me down for the purposes of getting another loan. 

I haven't specifically crunched the numbers, but just wanted to get some opinions.For instance, say I can get the house with $5000 and 20 years at 5% and I could go essentially take the buyers $5000 and then go 25 years at 7%.Another thought is to just do a rent to own type of contract.  

So I focused on the essentials... or what I think are the essentials anyhow.  

The whole driveway slopes down to the garage/basement entry so  the garage door is essentially the base of the valley. $400-$4000  is just what I needed to know to make an informed offer.

Oil and gas workers bought McMansions and then were laid off and had to go through foreclosure.

I guess testing the batteries once in a while makes sense but the essential point remains, these things seem to provide a low cost and low overhead protection from expensive damage.