New member and new investor from DFW

[Payton Law]

Hey BP community,

My name is Payton Law and I'm new to real estate investing. Though I'm just now writing my new member introduction, I've been listening to BP podcasts for about 6 months and reading forums/ REI books for 2 months. I am graduating from UNT in two weeks with a Masters in Accounting and I currently work at Hillwood Properties, a real estate development firm in Fort Worth. My fiance and I would like to start off in REI by buying and house-hacking a duplex in the DFW area, more specifically HEB, Keller or NRH (PM me if you have a property for sale in or around these cities). Within the last month I have been consistently running the numbers on properties that pop up on Zillow, Craigslists, Loopnet and Trulia. I have had no luck finding anything worth calling a deal on these sites, so we have decided to send out direct-mail letters within the next month to get the word out that we want a duplex (or triplex or quadplex if the deal makes sense).

A few newbie questions for anyone that would like to chime in:

1. Are there any other sites I should consider looking at to buy multi-family in the aforementioned cities?

2. What are some tactics other than comp sets, cap rate, and experience to help determine the value of a property?

3. Do investors in top dollarmarket live by the 1.5% - 2% before buying a property? I am running my numbers as if I am renting out all units because I plan to move out after a year or two.

4. Before I send my mailers out, should I get pre-approved for financing? Depending on the purchase price of the deal, I am looking to get an FHA or FHA 203k loan with 5-10% down or a conventional loan with 20% down.

5. If I do not use a real estate agent for my deal, is there anyone in the BP community that lives in the DFW metroplex that would be willing to walk me through my entire deal (from property walkthrough to contract close) for either a "mentor fee" or some other value-add?

6. If our direct mail turns out to be successful and we get multiple leads on properties that have the ability to turn into deals (probably not likely but I want to be prepared), should I have a plan in place to sell those deals to other investors that I have met through various network channels? I am not trying to make a lot of money on this, I just don't want any deals to be waisted. If this is common, is there a standard finders fee people will pay? (Note: I do not want to wholesale any deals at this time).

I could ask questions all day but I'd like to chat about these specifics for now. If you live in the DFW area and would like to connect feel free to PM me. I am currently looking to join the Ft Worth REIA or Colleyville REIA, so chime in if you are members of those or any other REIA's in the area.

Thanks for your time,

Payton Law