Is it realistic to think that at some point in ones life, these areas will experience a revival- either because jobs returned or because of forced use because we need places to park people as the population grows? 

spend $1000 +/- on a CPA and he will figure it all out @Nick Janovich

If you start swinging the hammer during the little time you have left after the full time job and spending time with your family, it might take you months to finish the renovation.

Realistically, considering we are new my primary goal is to increase deal flow.

If youre willing to spend a little money, use listsource to pull recent absentee owner purchases for the past 6 months.

Spend at least 6 months to a year educating yourself about real estate investment.  

I have spend 30 years in the construction field (mostly on the mechanical side HVAC) but have a pretty good sense of building structures.

Michele, yes, I spend a lot of my drive time listening to podcasts.

I have spend almost the past year reading and studying anything and everything I can find.  

and buyers willing to spend more on updated homes (that's a buy and flip).