I'm just trying to get some advice on where to begin in regards to education on the basics and fundamentals of residential and commercial development.

At that point you really are just like a beginning Stock Investor, who "Hopes" that his decision, usually based on Fundamentals and not the actual Price Movement on a chart, will work out to be a good one.

But, BP can't possibly catch everything...Fundamentally, the forte of BP is introducing newbies to the game.

It's like that.I suppose I have a lot to learn, and maybe some knee scrapes to obtain along the way, but fundamentally I think my idea will work.

Day one cash flow is not the same as cash flow 10 years from now ... you need to make sure it is increasing on an inflation adjusted basis and that goes to the quality and long term supply & demand fundamentals of the neighborhood (hint: quality neighborhoods don't cash flow as well day 1, but do better +10 years).

As far as what you can do to protect your self is to stick with the fundamentals.

I've never used the traditional formulas of cap rate / GRM / ect -- However, I want to purchasing much larger buildings (20+ units) and think having a basic idea of the fundamentals is probably necessary.

I have the fundamentals of a real estate agent certification (books / meetups).  

San Antonio is a good market to transact in right now... a little overlooked compared to Dallas or Austin but strong fundamentals.

Portland, Seattle, Charlotte, and Austin look to have good supply & demand fundamentals as well, though I'm not as familiar with those markets.