Everyone has their reasons my friend, these are mine.  

(This is her question not mine.

Does anyone know any reasonably priced, reliable, professionals that could fill this void of mine?

All of mine have been purchased off-market from tired landlords.  

You don't have to stay local for this, mine is out of State and it works fine.Of course, this is just my humble opinion and I'm not an attorney or CPA - be sure to do your own due diligence in these matters.

including mine. 

Your target seller is a bit different then mine.

A friend of mine (single mother) notified the owner of the sfh she was renting that the roof was leaking.  

i get a escrow check sent to me at the beginning of each year for previous year. i generally tack it on to the principal. im no expert but would think it belongs to the person you bought the property from. they paid too much into escrow and get a check back. at least thats what a friend of mine told me when i recieved a check. ill be following to see if anyone has the answer to this. good luck.

The only time I did an out of state transaction and used the listing agent for both sides, she referred me to a contractor who she knew well that ran off with a few thousand dollars of mine.