How to approach an older investor about buying their properties with credibility

[AJ Romero]

One of the investors in my local REIA is looking to retire and is looking to sell couple of neighboring four-plexes in a decent area of town (across the street from an elementary school) sometime next year. I am just starting out and wanted to focus on single-family homes because it is still possible to get them at a good discount here and the rental market is pretty tight, but these buildings piqued my interest.

The buildings are well-kept and on adjacent lots, bringing in $2050 and $2150 gross monthly, respectively. They've owned one building since 1977 and the other since 1994. Their tenants seem to stay quite a while - 7 years on average and those people are in month-to-month tenancies. The only expenses she said they had are :

"water ($120 - $160 monthly per building), trash (shared dumpster), insurance,taxes, yard clean-up and maintenance as needed. The back-flow preventers have been installed on each property are require an annual inspection which costs $50 each."

Of course I would like to to open up some discussion/negotiations with her but am not sure where to start. She hasn't given me an asking price yet - but I still need to figure out on my end the most I would be willing to pay. What do I need to ask for? I am assuming I will need Schedule E's, rent rolls, utility bills etc. - but since I am new to town and look pretty young people seem to be skeptical up front when I start digging for information. I am by far one of the youngest members of my REIA but our family is financially stable and has $$ to invest!!