Generally speaking, if somebody other than a bank or an insurance company issues you a financial guarantee, you should ask for their balance sheet to check if it's likely they'll be able to honor the guarantee.

These are professionals with additional training and a stricter code of ethics.

Friday 8:06pm- I receive the lockbox code from the listing agent, we can see it tonight if we want.Friday 8:28pm- We arrive at the house.Friday 8:40pm- John "yea, this is good.

I'm not an attorney, but your information appears faulty:https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/2010/title-4/subtitle-3/chapter-27/subchapter-15/t/4-27-1501

She also provided ideal zip codes of where to purchase properties.  

Roof first if it is near the end of its useful life.Siding I would also look at for weatherproofing (wind driven rain could also rot your building).Once it is water tight, I would start on any code issues (see inspector mention), then maybe on to kitchen. 

I'll second @Chad Lopes regarding hiring a PM, since managing a rental from another state can be tricky for even experienced investors.I wrote a post a while back about the zip codes we like for our B/B+ (and sometimes A if we can score a deal) investments, so perhaps that would be helpful to you:  https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/22…As with most markets, Bham can change block to block, so it behooves you to visit the market and meet the people you'd be working with (whether turnkey or a self-assembled team of agent, contractor, PM etc) face to face.

In my case they didn't honor that and cut it short.     

Here's just a couple reasons that is: 1) MT has building codes, permits, inspectors, the whole bit.

No matter where you are, you can do a lot of research on ZIP codes, finding the houses that meet your criteria.