@Ramon Polo Unless these are very poor quality lists?

Happy to share a video with you for why I believe they are superior investments.

Before today I actually thought I was a pretty good landlord...provide a quality product...have all my tenants setup on routine maintenance visits, and even send out gift cards around the holidays. 

Selling a single family home that is well located in a nice neighborhood in OC in order to buy non-performing notes is trading down in quality and up in risk ...

I believe this is a superior strategy and what tends to separate the professional investors from the amateur newbie wannabe investors ... it is important in any market, but getting back to the OP's original topic, it simply is not practically possible/probable to pull this type of strategy off as a novice investor going out of state to a market you are not familiar with and will be 100% dependent on the kindness of strangers acting in your best financial interest to make or break your investment for you.

However, I noticed the quality of lead initially isn't great.

Speed, quality, price. 

These are usually a little harder to find good quality tenants for. 3 bedrooms generally means a family with school age kids so really April/May/June are the prime rentable months for these. 

For air conditioning in this scenario, you could install a ductless heat pump if there is sufficient demand.Regardless of your choice for heating system, you will get your best bang for your energy efficiency buck by improving the building envelope (air sealing, additional insulation), which may necessitate the addition of a ERV/HRV to maintain air quality in a tighter building ... but it may also allow you to use a smaller boiler/furnace to condition the building.

If you want carpet, go with a super cheap frieze and get a good quality pad with a moisture barrier (8lb pad).