@Vincent HarrisI wouldn't recommend investing out of state for your first property, as it adds an extra layer of difficulty in analyzing properties since you don't know the area and can't just fly out there to look at it.

Is there a faster, but accurate, way to estimate repairs when analyzing properties?

Develop a mathematical system for analyzing deals and stick to it.

Agreed, not really about the questions but rather the exploration of information and then analyzing it to create a framework then path of what you need to be doing in the opinion of the other person.

Remember to analyze the properties as if they are fully rented.  

They are always bringing me deals, mainly off market, to analyze and directly contact the owners.

Focus on analyzing deals closer to you and where you want to live for now.  

As an inexperienced buyer/investor I don't know how to best compare/analyze the deals against each other.

I've been practicing with analyzing properties but don't have any experience in estimating repair costs. 

Do I ash for comps for EVERY property that I want to analyze or do I ask for comps after I do my first round of analysis and I want to do a more accurate analysis. of a potentially promising property?