Being a broker in Western Washington and an investor in Tacoma, I completely understand the challenge of getting started in this market.

Also know that you can't necessarily trust the NOI as presented, you must, must, must run the numbers.Here's a good link to start understanding the basics:http://www.noneman.com/pdfs/White_Paper_Cap_Rates....

I have been trying to get more into creative finance, and understand it conceptually, but I appreciate some of the nitty-gritty details here.

So it would be best for him to first understand how this would impact his taxes and estate planning then structure the sale based on that.

Verifying last 2 years of rental history and income extremely important to find the “best of the worst”.Make sure you understand the Class of properties you are looking at and the corresponding results to expect.The City of Detroit has 183 Neighborhoods we’ve analyzed.DM us if you’d like to discuss this logical approach in greater detail!

This is critical to understand if they will be a headache to deal with.

That will make it easier to truly understand the numbers if you only focus on a few areas throughout the US.Hope this helps!

You don't need to know everything to get started; you need a foundation to build on, and the rest will come through experience and then refining your education.You can build a basic understanding of investing in 3-6 months.

If you have ever learned something important by trial and error, then you can probably understand the frustration that you feel when you make a "rookie mistake" or a simple error that creates a big negative result.

Understand the fees involved and calculate the total cost for an entire year of management so you can compare the different managers.