What to research and for how long?

[James H.]

Good fortunes and some changed some life plans have me very confident that I will be in a position to purchase another property in about 6 months. This will be a new personal residence. I will convert my current residence to a rental and it will profit at least 100/month using the 50 percent rule, although I believe it will do better than that.

For the new property, I have a pretty specific area I am looking in. Most properties between mid 80K's and 150K fit my space/floor plan needs. The higher priced houses are not really bigger or better. In fact they tend to be a little older, but on better/more desirable streets.

I plan on using an agent. I want to be a specialized expert this time around unlike my first house. I paid 60K for my first house and 24K for my rental house. My future house will most likely convert to a rental in the future. Even if it doesn't, I want the option. But 150K is a somewhat different property than what I have experience with. This time I will care about the neighborhood.

So, my questions are:

How soon is it appropriate to utilize an agent (I'll be buying in about 6 months)?

What info should I use my agent for? Will I get a problem looking for up to two years of past MLS data? Is that even possible?

What do you look for to optimize a purchase that is probably on the cusp of class B and Class C?

How do you know when you've dropped from B to C? I know this is subjective, but I want your opinion.

Any other tips welcome. If you are a local or familiar with Arlington Texas, can you give me some insights to the 76013 zip code west of fielder? Any suggested alternatives?