Search the same area, search the same age of house, search the same number of bedrooms and baths, etc.  

Unlike retail with guaranteed leases where the tenants cover all expenses the apartments success of a large complex is tied to the management of the buildings.I am not saying it has not worked out great for some but given your age and retirement I would think it has too much risk potential as you have no control.I have a similar client who bought into multiple multifamily and is in the same age group as you.

Next, a 100 K distressed sale has nothing to do with 200K home sales, unless they are comparable, RE is unique from many vantage points, size, location, quality, materials, age, condition and so on.

I have been interested in real estate investment since about the age of 12 and decided to get licensed 2.5 years ago with the mindset that I wanted to learn that side of real estate (all things real estate fascinate me).

My thought goes more to the age of prospects, a modest income earning adult will have less time for discretionary activities, they may be more consumed by other things than surfing the web, but I'm sure some do.Access to the internet can be had at libraries, free, so for those techies time on line is limited.

If it is based on age what age?

You made no mention of your age but with a 9 year old you must be pretty young.

@Lynn Currie Regarding relocating the office on our plan, the reason we have the office where it is (separated from the rest of the space and access to the bathroom), it allows that space to be used as a ground floor in-law suite, or for owners to "age in place", etc. in the future.I'm sure you know that when designing "spec" homes, trying to get the design so that it works for the maximum number of potential buyers requires a lot of guesswork, and hopefully we get it right.Maybe you can upload some of your houses too!

The only place you can pull a true fico is myfico.com,,,but there is a catch, there is more than one version of FICO (2 or 3 I believe),,but those scores have always be right on when my mortgage broker pulls my credit.As someone else stated, the free sites aren't FICO, but will give you a good idea if your score is going up or down, and you can watch how different things effect your score.Credit is its own 'jungle' to explore,,,and a lot of tricks can be learned (I'm not talking about getting things off your score they you did, but removing inquiries, things that will help your average age of accounts etc.Short story, if you pay your bills on time and don't use much of your revolving credit, your score will be good,,if you don't, your score will be not so good

The 50% rule is usually pretty close, but can vary due to the property's age & condition, the amount of work you do yourself (PM, repairs, etc.), and many other factors.