I'm new to real estate and I'm looking through a list of properties from the mls that match my criteria and I can't tell at first glance which are possible deals and which are no good.

Earnest money deposit would have to come from your IRA.  

Open a joint account with the seller, different bank, you deposit the funds, set up an automatic draft to pay the mortgage, the wire funds are from an account with the seller's name on it, should not be an issue at all. 

All signed leases, deposits accounts, rent role for the last 2 years.

So safer playing field if that's your cup of tea.So  really the question is where can you get the best numbers , to match what you want to accomplish.

Set up key word searches to match your interest and what you may want more information on.

I went over to talk to them and I was not even given the chance to do a walkthrough and talk about the cost of things and they are trying to say that all of my $600 deposit is gone and they will not prorate the rent back to me.

I already will be getting all security deposit on hand, prorated amount from 6/2-6/30.

Thats so cool that im also planning on the exact same ; saving to deposit on fha loan for a duplex and house hack like that till I can afford my next property.

Essentially is as follows:New Lease Fee (one month’s rent) + Expected Missed Rent + “Refresh” Cash(Refresh Cash = the amount out of pocket to prepare the property for new tenants, after tenant deposit is spent)It looks like this:(A/B)+(A*C / B)+(D/B)Where:A = New lease fee (1 month's rent) ($1,000)B = # of Months in lease (24)C = Expected # of months vacant in-between tenants (1.5)D = “Refresh” Cash ($500)In this example:($1,000/24) + ($1,000 * 1.5 / 24) + ($500/24)Which is:41.67 + 62.5 + 21 = $125    which is 13% of monthly rent in this scenarioThe equation allows me to make a judgement call in many different scenarios.