I welcome any suggested paths to better educate myself from the ground up.I'm not yet at the point where I know what I would like to invest in (duplexes seem interesting), but hope to form a more concrete vision and associated goals within the next few weeks.

@Darrie Bennett Welcome aboard I've been a member for just a few weeks a lot of info and help here check out the podcasts there great .It looks like you have this all planed out keep your vision and enjoy BP I"m from Ct. and I"m a Giants and Raiders fan Its time to get back to the glory days of the Raiders Best of luck

If your familiar with Metro Atlanta then it'll be easy to vision the area I work & serve with expertise as a 19 year Realtor/Investor.All of Cobb County, North Fulton County...North of the Chattahoochee, Sandy Springs, Roswell, Milton, Alpharetta, Johns Creek, NW Dekalb County.I keep an office in Marietta, Buckhead, Alpharetta, and Decatur to serve my clients needs.

Congratulations Joshua Dorkin for reaching a new benchmark; I wonder how your vision 8 years ago aligns with where you are now?

I want to applaud your work at digging into the "why" behind getting started in real estate investing, as well as your vision to apprentice under someone first.You'll have a bright future ahead of you if you stay humble, stay hungry for growth, and stay focused.  

Tell them your vision or at least the goal.

Michael, you have the advantage of already having the passion & vision of knowing you want to pursue real estate as a vocation.

I also love to get inspired by other's goals and visions of where they see themselves.I am very ambitious not only for myself but for people who share the same desires as I do.  

All I can say, is that he's a very strong-minded person with a vision to help people in the way he can: he never spoke to me about anything other that helping me in real estate (no my favorite weather/book/color stuff, no his world real estate projects).His methods work.

In the absence of income data, you will need to establish your own vision of value by using the type of market data you cited in your initial post.