They will have a much better grasp on investing in general than your typical agent, and their willingness to come on a site like this and respond to your post shows their "hunger" and go-getter attitude. 

nice... well, as concisely as possible, I believe that I am well worth the investment. and that right now "my grasp exceeds my reach" (thats backwards but i mean it that way) As far as work ethic goes, I dont know anyone who is as obsessed as me (personally anyway).

And since neither we nor anyone in the government actually has a grasp on these numbers it is just going to continue.

Especially going in to a new area, you need to have a grasp on the scope of work

What I mean by informed first-time home buyer is a buyer that has done research on real estate investing, has read the major books, listened to countless hours of podcasts, has a good grasp of the numbers involved in analyzing and purchasing a house, knows what they want, and is realistic.

Have a good grasp on rents at comparable properties (Craigslist, local property manager data), and expenses (tax assessor, utility providers, home insurance etc), and come up with an income number.

After that, it's do your due diligence to make sure you have an accurate grasp of rental rates, occupancy, expenses... then dive in!  

Raj, sounds like you need to have good grasp on your estimates and a solid inspection from someone who knows what they are doing.

Can get a grasp of that by calling a high producing realtor in that area.

None of this is secret or being hidden, it's all in public SEC documents.I still don't grasp your thought process that we will limit the number of options real estate agents have when choosing where to work.