You can look on CCAP (circuit court for your county) and pull up distressed sellers--like foreclosures, probate, skip trace then call them.

That's a deal breaker for those of us looking to scale a cash flowing hold portfolio :(

Luckily it was fixable by the tenant, just a breaker error.  

Bones were good - electrical and plumbing had been replaced 20-30 years ago, Breakers installed, PVC and pex plumbing.

Plus, on the first few, you just might not have the upfront cash to "hire it out"For example, I do my own electrical in my personal residence, and from that, I NOW it doesn't "cost" a lot in materials for electrical work (aside from some specialty breakers, GFCI's, etc.), but the labor is more intensive than you might think, so that $3500 bid is not unreasonable, unless it has $2k+ in materials....I also know I am not going to do the electrical in my REI due to the time/effort involved even though I could save $2.5K on that $3500 bid...it's not worth the week It'll take me, plus the "permitting lag" that happens if you aren't a local tradie, which sets back pretty much everything else, drywallers, flooring, cabinetry, paint...etc.  

There's a few design guidelines, but basically you just use a bronze circulator, TACO makes one with built in thermostat circuit, and pipe some baseboard in the unit with it's own thermostat.