I only thought of an ops manual being necessary when taking on employees but didn't think about the benefit of doing the deep dive on your own business.

How do I know how much it’s going to costs before digging in deeper?

Check out "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" to get started, then read the Millionaire Next Door, then dive into the Bigger pockets book!

After we retire and gain access to our 401ks, the passive syndication experience gained to date gives us confidence that we'll be able to manage our money much better ourselves than were we to leave it in the hands of a financial planner who would have it in stocks and bonds.Before diving in headfirst to actively managing a lot of units, I would recommend starting small, perhaps with a 4 plex like your friends own, and then scaling up from there. 

Account Closed if you use the FHA loan or VA you need to look deeper into the actual occupancy but most cases its 1 year.

In advance, I thank you all and am looking forward to diving into the real estate business.

I am planning on filing them together this year but the deal sounds pretty good and I just want to dive in already. 

With that said you need to evaluate safety, performance, cost and future needs before diving in.

Perhaps you ought to contact a broker for a broker's price opinion (BPO) to get a preliminary assessment as to the value of the property before you dive in with an appraiser's cost and the cost of appealing the county assessment.

Of course that's a shady area I don't care to dive into here, but it is what it is and if all else fails, there's always getting off our butts, out from behind our computers and going down to the courthouse and digging through the many, many records of property information.