I buy the ones where they open by entering a four digit combo.  

I bought a e-book from a guy called Marcel Umphrey and he opened my eyes to wholesaling.

You get them right away in digital form, so you could be learning RIGHT NOW instead of reading me going on and on and on and....

Most landlords may hand out a digital or paper application, review for their criteria, then run the background/credit check for those that pass initial criteria and are close to accepting that applicant. paycheck stub + landlord references (you are calling old landlords right?)

And thanks for the info about the podcasts, already downloaded the e-book from here.

He also has some e-books on real estate tax loopholes. 

Real estate is a hard asset where they are only making so much land.With real estate you get the 4 pillars or return.( depreciation, cash flow (hopefully) , appreciation (hopefully), and principal pay down ( if you have a loan and are not paying all cash ).Your tax equivalent yield can rise in the double digits on return.

If its an individual who's not as familiar with this market they may be willing to do high single digits.

I finished the beginner's ebook yesterday and found an article on doing just that.

The point is over time you will start to know what some of those numbers are.one thing that can speed up the process is J Scott's eBook here on the site about estimating costs.