I live in Hawaii and just started with real estate as well, but learned so much thru BP.The first books that really got me going was, Long Distance Real Estate Investing by David Green, and The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner. 

I'm a long distance investor so good PM is crucial for me.

Bill - do you manage any properties long distance without a property manager? 

Also since you and your wife are investing long distance, decide how active you want/can be.

In my experience after doing a few projects with containers, it does not work out to be cheaper than traditional site built housing and it comes with a lot of constraints.

The appraiser will need to expand their search by both distance and time of sold data.

Choosing comparables is less about distance and more about choosing properties that truly are highly comparable to the subject property.

BUT, my two cents for anyone considering a purchase outside their own market is: Comps, Comps, Comps   Comps on recently sold very similar units within walking distance over the last 12 months, Comps (multiple estimates) on rehab $,Comps (educated expert opinions) on which way that particular neighborhood is positioned now and for the next 5-10 yearsBasically, the same due diligence for a local buy just via longer distance :)

It's just very important that the R7 assembly happens within close distance to R2, in order to get the zoning change.

Expand the search distance until you find similar features.