Since I have never lived in the areas and I work full time, it will be difficult to tell the "good" from the "bad" areas. 

Will you still have some bad apples, sure, but it will help prevent them.

Hello i was wondering if taking out a mortgage for a single family home first time home buyer and not Occupying it or renting it out and paying the monthly mortgage myself would be a bad idea investment wise. and then after 1 year rent it out?

As a Real Estate Development, I have primarily focused on construction; managing construction budgets, dealing with contractors, and fighting the battles no one else wants to battle. 

Tripp,It's not a bad thing to have a 15 year mortgage, it gave you more equity in a quicker amount of time, now you have it to invest in another.

Seemed very thorough and  had a very easy to understand color system in the report to let you know how bad the situation was.

Having your money sitting in a bad investment, hoping for it to generate unknown returns at some point in the future, is not a good strategy.

Not that the turn key route is bad per say.... but depending on the level of due diligence performed you might find it's almost as much work as finding a deal yourself.

Not a fair fight!

Brought in a number of concrete contractors and they all asked were they at the correct address, because the sidewalk they were looking at (my property) did not look bad at all, but the one next door (owner occupied) was in terrible shape.