That will determine the amount of effort you put into your business structure.  

I'm eager to learn from your experiences—what strategies or processes do you use to determine expense figures in your market?

Nothing special, nothing unique, but in many cases, they sell.At the end of the day, it is a different mentality.

But with the questions I asked you should be able to determine a rough outline on if it is "worth it" to you.

Historically that has been people like minor children, mental incompetents, and unknown people who do not even know that something bad is about to happen.In my opinion, in order to protect the rights of the unknown defendants, the GAL must always demand an auction.

When working outside of my home market where I have access to the MLS the strategies we use to run our numbers to determine ARV1. 

I did not have your mentality at 21.I'd say you are headed in the right direction with the strategy you are considering - househacking.You'll be able to use a low-down payment option, learn to manage properties, create systems for managing maintenance projects, have your tenants pay most or all of your mortgage,... the list goes on.There will definitely be hurdles but like you said...you'll make it work!

And third, you can make sure your lease's guest policy and non-smoking clauses are beefed up and made extremely clear to the tenants.Lastly, you probably inspected the property at least once or twice before closing, so you would have likely been able to determine if there was any significant smoke damage or cigarette smell inside.  

They are a big group and people I spoke with did say they have a great reputation, but the northeast mentality of wanting things done yesterday does not work in every market.

However, you would need to speak/hire a securities attorney first, determine which rule you're going to use for your syndication, and then start talking to investors based on methods the ruling dictates to use.