Finally, use all these numbers, including purchase price, repairs, rental income, expenses, and sales price or cash out refi after X number of years (you can play with these parameters) and calculate IRR on the series (can use the excel function to do this) ... this is your total return, over the life of the investment, including ALL sources of profit.

Finally started my housing search after a lot of research but haven't had any luck finding an agent that is right for me.

It wasn't until this week when I finally got around to reading @Brandon Turner's "The Book on Inventing in Real Estate With No and Low Money Down" that I realized how hard money can help and benefit in a RE deal.

Finally, if you choose an Option 2, but act as a GC, you can start from your "circle of trust".

Getting too wrapped around the axle about finding the ideal first deal is a good way to miss the game because you were too busy sitting on the sidelines wondering when to enter.sounds awesome. the second half of your post is nailing where i'm at right now: figuring out when to jump in based off of knowing that something decent is in front of me rather than waiting for great numbers in particular. my goal is to have something during first half of next year and not blow it, basically. if i break even, or anywhere near it pretty much, then i'll be happy cause of getting over the knowledge/fear/hesitancy humps.

Several weeks later I finally opened up one of my emails containing my keyword alerts and noticed I had messages from people in the BP community. 

Immediately after closing I have them buy me out for the agreed amount.Can you please break down the final part of your process?

I have a blog with some classic books (all probably free at library ) on the topic..finally, it might be worth exploring getting new efficient ac, furnaces, hvac rolled into the loan (as that is like 15-20 percent of the deal) but may be tough to do before closing....or maybe tap equity in a few years for that...best of luck

@Mike Wood you hit the nail on the head about the comps.

@Vy Mai You are going to closing and you dont have final payment info from your bank or finance company?