From my experience a good majority of investors are contractors or people who work in the construction field.Your goal should be to be friends with people who do rehab work on the side on flips renovations, that way you can work with them to 1 Get more income and 2 Meet directly with the investor and form a relationship.Good luck man!

Apply for a credit card from a major bank.

Most units are on a month to month lease and the majority of the tenants have been there anywhere from five to fifteen years. 

Basically it is for a home that the (adult) children of the owner are looking to have major updates made to it prior to listing it. 

Pure numbers don't look bad....And maybe look at some details like property condition (so no major outlays early for capital projects), your home base makes me think college, so are these empty each summer or is there mass competition for students (which can be management challenges).

I haven't tried it, as I've never done a major rehab yet, but I've found most info on this site to be quite helpful so it's probably worth a shot. 

@Sean OTooleAs an econ major, I completely agree with you with regards to opportunity cost.

MY info says that would be a major mistake and buyers wont like it. 

Almost every major highway is under construction at the moment (I don't miss that) and traffic is always a joy to be stuck in.  

No heat/air, no water, flood/major leaking.