Are there any specific tips or knowledge you could share when speaking to lenders? 

Assessments are with valuations from a specific year.

Yes, reading is great to learn about specific technics, but hands-on application when running alongside guys that are doing it day in and day out is far superior.

Here are some specific questions I have:What would be the best approach for someone like me who is completely new to real estate?

If it’s a homestead, it’s a two-year rights of redemption, this is specific to Texas, I don’t know about other states.

It's what they post as FMR, but it's not necessarily a reflection of what you are going to get, I completely agree with you.For fun, I went on rentometer.com because it usually shows good example, and for houses specifically, here's the numbers:1 – 4 Bed Summary1 bed2 bed3 bed4 bedAverage Rent$1,139 ±9%$1,735 ±5%$2,281 ±5%$2,892 ±12%Median Rent$1,000$1,750$2,000$2,67525th – 75th Percentile$901 – 1,376$1,319 – 2,150$1,681 – 2,881$1,987 – 3,79710th – 90th Percentile$687 – 1,590$945 – 2,524$1,142 – 3,420$1,173 – 4,610Standard Deviation$353$616$889$1,341Sample Size11596314Search Radius3.0 mi3.0 mi3.0 mi3.0 miIf would actually like to chat one on one with you to understand why all the FMR are so high in rentometer.com, zillow.com, huduser.gov, CHMA's website and you are telling me they are far from these numbers.

Best thing to do is you should meet with a real estate attorney to go over the specifics of this deal to come up with the best solution to maximize your returns as well as protect you throughout the transaction.

I guess one of the biggest things to consider is how long you plan to be in each specific property.

Let them know - as specifically as possible - what you are trying to achieve.

Wilson - I agree with Kai on using a broker for this specific situation.