Go through the house, determine what materials are required, price them at a typical home depot and or lowes etc. research online what you may need to do anything.

When researching a city out of my home state, what's the best way to research a zip code or a city on the internet for good schools? 

Hey Mathew,Start with multi-family if possibleRun the number's FHA vs ConventionalAvoid high crime areas/unfavorable locationsTry local bank/mortgage broker-More flexible.Realtors- ask/look online if there's any sign of commercial/investor interaction.

If you do that on top on great marketing online and offline then this will bring results. 

I have found some properties online that seem close on the numbers, but I am only guessing with an ROI set at 10%.Thanks

But realistically, we will most likely be interested in investing out of state with no personal contacts other than referrals, through hopefully the BP forums, or reviews online and by vetting them out over the phone.  

You have to become a marketing machine (online and off) to get potential deals. 

Was it online last year or in-person bidding?

You can take your real estate course online here!

Once you determine the owner, you can search for them online or better yet have a PI run a skip trace on them.