My advice would be get a professional to look into this and leverage all the quotes because the seller is going to know even if you back out the next person is going to see the same stuff pop up on inspections and know if will continue to haunt them in the selling process.

They might not be comfortable with you collecting the rents but atleast seeing the day to day stuff and the budgeting so you see where the expenses are. 

Small town, nothing within 8 miles, only shopping center in the town, Street level there is a nail salon on a 5 yr (uses 2 unit spaces), hair salon on a 3 yr, sushi restaurant 5 yr (uses 2 units), real estate office on a 1 year (been there 15 years) massage parlor 1 yr.

Nico is good with working for investor typed clients because he knows his stuff and isn't afraid to get into the trenches if he needs to.

As you do more of this stuff, you'll find that depreciation is very powerful and is an excellent tool for limiting your tax liabilities over time.

Booming area and stuff priced at or below market are very competitive.  

I think these are way less scary than the pier and beam variety, but maybe that is just me.You then have to let the house settle for some period of time before you really set about your renovations, but you can still use the time to rip out old stuff, get your materials ordered, and gather bids from contractors - all things you'll need to do anyway.

On the other hand, student loans, mortgage payments, stuff with an interest rate below 5%, again, almost everyone agrees that's debt you can work with in reasonable amounts.There's also a broad base of consensus that you need to have a significant sum set aside as a reserve, in easily-tapped resources like cash, sitting equity in your primary residence, easily liquidated assets. 

If so, there's lots of music stuff going on there and with the experience you have, maybe you could get some work there locally.

@Craig Lively,I custom build my own stuff.