I don't have any agent friends to pull comps for me at the moment, but I am actively searching for one who is an agent and investor. 

The only thing "affordable" are condos but HOA fees are through the roof and leaves little to no meat on the bone for cashflow.

As far as holding it for a year unfortunately that's not in the cards for me at the moment!

My personal life includes two kids, aspiring entrepreneurs / investors, soccer mom, traveling and cooking.

Lost me at condo.

The deal has to be INCREDIBLE because there must be enough meat on the bone for both people to profit well.2.)

Please feel free to email me at [email protected] and we can connect.  

That really comes first, before you waste time  doing numbers, before inspecting the property and before trying to comp out the property......otherwise, you're wasting your time and the seller's time.You still need to learn RE, not how to market RE but the meat of RE, that is where all creative and conventional transactions will be anchored in.

It seems like a good opportunity for buy and hold, but there seems to be a lot of variation in terms of the state of properties, even just on a single block, which concerns me at times - being the 'best house on the block', and in terms of desirability for rentals and commanding higher rents etc.

I know that its frowned upon to use free sites such as Zillow, however, it is the tool that is currently available to me at the time, since I am just starting and I havent been able to work with anyone yet.