(But not for a “I’m going to live in it 50 weeks out of the year and rent it out two weeks”, IMHO, if that was your idea.  

I have some ideas about how to do this so we both get the most benefit, but there's one part of this that I want to get some input on. 

So, it's still NOT a good idea to try to invest by zip codes - which are too big in our opinion/experience.

Our offices are in the southern parts of the US so naturally we're more comfortable with buying in our backyard.

Tools like this helped us determine that retiring in the Memphis Metro area was good for us and has helped form our investing strategy, mainly SFR and some commercial spaces (flex, studios, small office).

@Daniel HymanThanks for the idea but another problem I have with using the government internet is a lot of things on websites don't work because of the firewall and network settings so when I try to apply for the account it just doesn't go to anything.

Plug in the town your property is in and get an idea of what other landlords are renting their properties for.https://www.furnishedfinder.com/?

I had no idea who we were working with as I was lead to believe it was one of his clients from his tax business.

Any idea how to get principal pay down in a custom report?

Obviously it is always a good idea to respect folks time, but find someone who also has skin in the game, investing where you are investing, can talk about their experiences, and also has built a network of folks who can support you after the transaction as well.