I can listen to books and educate myself on whatever I want while at the gym, in the car, etc.There are a wide array books available and a few I think may benefit from, if you haven't stumbled across them already, are....Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat - The BRRRR Rental Property Investment Strategy Made SimpleFLIP - How to Find, Fix, and Sell Houses for ProfitThis book is not currently available on Audible but a must readThe Book on Estimating Rehab Costs - J ScottBigger Pockets has become one of my best resources.

Short answer--legwork and having a broad and active network. 

In this case, a separate Memorandum of Modification (or whatever it’s called in your state), which broadly tells the world that the loan has been modified but with no specific details, would be notarized and recorded.Your lending attorney could tell you whether anything should be recorded and how to deal with any existing subordinate lenders.

@Sonam Nathani - maybe too broad of a question. 

But given that MTRs are so broad, there are guest types that are on the lower end of the spectrum (rent-by-room) and those that are the extremely high end of the spectrum (insurance placements).

Zips and cities are too broad a stroke and wildly varied in Atlanta.When do I want to buy it?

Seems like a pretty broad estimate, no way to estimate before buying a lot.

Being new to the area, I am not sure which are the wisest areas to pursue, so I welcome thoughts on the best areas to invest, or more broadly frameworks about how to think about a good deal.I am also interested in advice on the basics of setting up an ideal REI business practice.

I still have baseboard heating so even though the ski season would get good utilization, the economics don't work with the inefficient heating setup.French Broad (local power co) is running a program to sell ductless split unit heat pumps at cost and will finance them.  

Real Estate's a pretty broad field.