@Rusty DukeThe two year clock starts when you live and own the property.You look back on the most recent 5 years to determine section 121 exclusion.If you move out of the property once the property is signed, you would no longer count those days.If you move out much earlier than when the property is signed, you use that date.

My guess is it was determined that nothing in the immediate area was a good comp due to age and finish level, so the appraiser ventured farther out for comps. 

I am solely looking via the internet in areas about 3 hours away from my small town.

Once you understand lien position, in order to determine which liens are senior and which are junior for a particular property, you’d have to either do a DIY title search on the county recorder OR pay a title company to do so.

Imagine doing this exercise for a property that has appreciated over $6.8k/month over the hold period (our best appreciating property).The plan starts with determining whether you can somehow get financing with a high LTV loan and that you can come up with the required down. 

Sure, you can find skip traces out there that are 4 cents per record but you end up getting bad data or 9+ numbers that you have to sift through to determine if they're the right person or not; often times the phone number/contact will be information that was correct years ago.

I understand the need to interview several lenders to find the one that fits, but how does a first time investor determine this?  

The $123/SF is based on what the county will allow me to use to based my estimate to determine if I will be above or below the 30k, based on some data they have available.

Before you go spending money to join a club whose value you cant determine, how about you start hitting some of your local REIA clubs and meetups? 

You also have to pay for the extras (internet, cable, utilities) as well as furniture, dishes and linens.