Lastly, there is a loft style space above the garage that could accommodate a studio (no bathroom however).

So my homework is more oriented around which areas I'd like to narrow down to, compare purchase prices and costs to rental income and figure out what works for us. 

For curtain rods we get inexpensive "lock seam" curtain rods that are style-neutral and can be found at home depot or amazon.  

The most important question for me that I would ask at the end of each of the interviews was "is this a family style brokerage, where everyone helps each other out and wants everyone to succeed, or is it more cut throat, in which it's every agent for themselves?"  

Those in the lower price points are production oriented they do the same cut and paste from previous projects on various elements. 

I have a business oriented connection in Honolulu that I plan on visiting once I relocate to SoCal.

Spend every cent you can spare on things that will get you quality leads.Grow your buyers list.Get a websiteplace craigslist ads to harvest cash buyers,Write good conversion oriented content on your site.

I will add the fact that there are things you need to keep in mind when it comes to the HOA fees, Never go with high-rise buildings because those common area fees paid by the HOA will kill you, I typically look at Garden-Style or 4 stories and below, I do have one property that's in a 7 story building but the fees were still fairly low. 

My apologies for the extensive intro, I do enjoy typing and I'm a very detail oriented person (yikes).

I see Hendersonville as very family oriented.