I've spent months studying everything I can, and I'm finally ready to start my investment journey.  

This means studying the underwriting, understanding the market, and seeing if the business plan makes sense. 

IN that I am sure you are hearing lots of different things from lots of different people, which can confuse and paralyze the mind, I thought a bit of concrete good news might be welcome.I am sure at some point I'll write something for the blog, but below are some numbers you might find interesting, reassuring, or entertaining.VALUE ADD CASE STUDY #1 - Canyon 35 ApartmentsPurchased 20 months ago- 98 Units in Phoenix.- Purchase Price $8.15M- Renovation Budget $1.5M.- In-place Income $60,000/mo.Current Status- Revenue $86,000- T-12 OpEx $430,000 ($36,000/month)- Community Reno complete- 49 Interiors Complete.- 1 interior in process (pre-leased)- Remaining LTL $14,000Upon Completion- Projected Income $100,000- T-12 OpEx $36,000- Projected NOI $64,000Annual ($765,000 annually)Valuation - At 5 cap: $15.3M- At 5.5 cap: $13.9M- At 6 cap: $12.75MBy the time we've recovered the remaining units (12 months or less) and materialized the $14,000 of LTL, we will have increased the NOI from $25,460 at acquisition to over $60,000.

Not I do not know the law in Missouri but when you're dealing with a real estate agent the difference between you and that person is they studied and continue to train in the most important part of Real Estate which is not focused on by investors and that is the law portion.

Except it's not random... it's based on Government studies of rentals across the entire country.  

To earn his living from, for the rest of his life.I only recommend attending college in hope that he targets his studies in the field of real estate.

The town I live in recently, through a study determined the only 1% of available real estate was zoned for residential. 

My piece of advice is to study the area as much as possible.

You can confirm this by studying the historical pricing and rents over the long term.

Keep reading and studying, especially other peoples responses to questions similar to yours.Lastly I would recommend not asking for advice too often.