I know there's a bunch online, but I'd love to see exactly what someone with experience is using. 

There are many online courses, and so far I'm leaning towards Kaplan University.  

I'd like to know more about why those areas were chosen and to get a little insight into the mind of this real estate "flipper."

Look up septic tank filter and you will see online, just sawzall it,again easier route is to remove the snake claw and pull the cable back.

Online Display Ads.These are the ads that you see all over the Internet that follow you around but you're doing to do them a little differently.

How can one make sure that risks are mitigated as much as possible when participating in such online auctions?

Get a copy of the court filings, they should be available online at https://courts.akronohio.gov/AkronCaseInformation/ Also check the property records and make sure your properties are registered with the county.

If you had chosen to just flip the Contract to someone else "as is" (no repairs) for no other profit margin, you still would have kept that $200K that would have been spent on renovations, no fuss, no foul, it's your money.In month 14 after you have spent a lot of time and $200K on repairs, the owner gets drunk and plows his car into someone else and is found liable for killing someone. $2 million judgment against him. 

Just wanted to know if the quality of homes that are listed online are good investments, or is everything that's cheap in really rough neighborhoods.. 

Well everything that I’ve read online about these “free” seminars is unfortunately true.