Networking is always a great practice and you never know who you might meet there and what good information they have to share. 

An investor friendly agent can do all sorts of helpful things, like setting you up with a search for properties or connecting you with folks who have recently done deals like the ones you want to do. 6) Consider analyzing a deal or two in your local market, just for practice, with a free use of our Rental Property Calculator (or other calculators).

I work in a small college town.

An investor friendly agent can do all sorts of helpful things, like setting you up with a search for properties or connecting you with folks who have recently done deals like the ones you want to do. 6) Consider analyzing a deal or two in your local market, just for practice, with a free use of our Rental Property Calculator (or other calculators).

In addition to the above questions, could anyone please advise a good attorney and collection agency in College Station, TX?

I live in Oakland's Maxwell Park, near Mills College.

I assume that is where a good portion of the variance is coming from.Great job diving into the numbers on the properties as that is always good practice and allows you to better understand what numbers you want to input on the various types of assets you explore investing in. 

Are you an engineer, an attorney, or another investor with less than twenty years around RE with a bad college education?

It's a good home, in a growing neighborhood, near college campuses with community amenities. 

Best practice: hire professionals to handle all the work.