What would the noise, smells, visual appeal be to me. 

I want the person that takes time to visualize their belongings and daily life at the property. 

One thing that helps me is visualizing myself as a successful real estate investor, living the life I want.

Youtube each component so you have a visual on what needs to be done or at least a better understanding. ie tiling a bathroom etcBreak down each component on a spreadsheet and try to figure out how many man hours a competent handyman would charge. ie: $25hr x 8 hours = day rate, find a fair day rate and give them x amount of days to do the jobContractors are notorious for bidding all over the place.

I would suggest going to meetups and forming a network of people who are ahead of you in the game who can help you to visualize the future and understand that success is possible! 

I would like to use something that can visually show me the peek, the tipping point, the decline, the bottom and then the climb back up...This would help my overall confidence in making a first purchase.Again, thank you for taking the time to read this post.

To that end, we figured that there would have to be some negotiations after our home inspection and visual inspection if anything substantial came up.So we knew that the units needed a new roof and that was factored into our offer. 

Actually in Little Rock, we are putting in granite throughout, shaker cabinets in several rehabs, 12" x 24" tile in bathrooms and some other really awesome visual upgrades.

Give you a more visual perspective and show real life people that are doing it.

@Clint Harris Good info, and thanks for sharing the numbers that always helps when trying to visualize how someone processes their numbers workflow.