@Jonathan Holmes thanks for the reply. when i look at comps through redfin and download the comps with excel, i tend to look at the last year, but there's a way to look at the comps for the last 6 months.

I started out with forms that I downloaded from bigger pockets by Michele and Bruce Fischer --podcast 79 (low-income housing), the templates that came with Buildium (our property managment software), and a lease written by a local lawyer that does the most evictions in our county.

I have read the article about screening tenants and I have everything downloaded from the lease agreement package.

Is the download version worth starting with?

In fact, either copied a "mentor's" model (btw, this mentor has no background in underwriting) or paid some Internet guy $100 to download their underwriting model i.e.

QBs down loads spread sheets fairly easy but I am finally getting used to QBs reports and liking it more.

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the bucks county market, but I would recommend going to your local real estate meetup (download 'meetup' app and search real estate) and I bet you that someone there will be able to provide insight on best places to buy a multi family.Good luck!

Most of the answers to the basic questions you're asking have already been answered here numerous times.There are plenty of free guides here on Bigger Pockets - starting with "The Ultimate Guide to Real Estate Investing" https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/329/download.

You really need to balance the opportunity cost of the interest you'll save with the returns you can make by investing that $400/month or however much you can scrape together.If you want to get real nerdy, you can download a loan amortization spreadsheet, plug in the extra payments, compare the interest saved each month versus what it'd be if you keep the loan as is, and discount the NPV into today's dollars. 

Try the following link: https://www.biggerpockets.com/landlord-formsYou should be able to download them directly from there.