Below is a link to an article written by a web-based financial firm I personally invest with that states that rental properties are poor investments. 

I just refi'd with @Chris Mason (no relationship, no stake in the game, met him on BP on Jan 29 and closed a refi a week ago) and recommend him for CA loans, he has a handy google sheet he can web share with you and walk through all the numbers and scenarios.

Stay of the web when looking for money, @Brittany Vigneault.

@Babu Ramadoss you're going to get the it depends answer. it depends on your short and long term goals. many will say chasing appreciation is gambling like the stock market. others say cash is king and never put your money where roi is not maximized. personally, my goal is replacing w2 income in 7 years so cashflow is king for me. that also means I need to use less leverage with lower roi, or do more brrr which would like take longer based on what I buy. your market will likely dictate one or other, and for the record I ignore appreciation in my underwriting as a buy and hold investor. the appreciation will never be realized until I refi out down the road.

This was obviously a bit of a gamble because the house had to appraise above a certain figure in effort to remove the PMI but we chose to do it anyway because the rate reduction in and of itself was worth the cost/effort of the refi.

Web material, books, etc, if you can answer anything then that is an even bigger bonus as time is money but happy and even eager to put in the hard yards just really looking for some direction to avoid wasted efforts.Thanks for reading if you made it this far and really appreciate any advice :)

@Web Annacius Google " New Jersey residential lease agreement."

What’s their capabilities as far as certifications such as pertaining to SEO implementation, web development, setting up and automating my processes utilizing the best of their abilities?

Appreciation potential is gambling as far as I'm concerned.

It's too much of a gamble for us not to take it and keep it separate in case of need.