Get excellent credit. 

Building those "muscles" of being investor take time but don't be discouraged as everyone's ramp up time is different.If you are truly lost then perhaps the best use of your time might be in finding an excellent property manager to handle everything on your behalf for at least a year.

My initial thought is to generate an excel doc to capture, organize, and automate this process, but hoping there are more sophisticated options available. 

I had no idea BP had all of those handy excel modeling tools uploaded by users.

Excellent point...Thank you for correcting my info, Anthony, and sorry to Casey for giving out bad info!

I think that's an excellent idea!

While I agree with Bill G. that Master Lease Options do not eliminate risk, I find them to be an EXCELLENT way to mitigate risk.

As you said I am looking for properties with an excellent positive cashflow.

My went back to carpet- which I don't like either.On the other hand, the tile that was used in the kitchen and bathroom has held up excellently, and looks as good today as it did when I moved in 5 years ago.

The building itself is in excellent shape with four of the six units fully renovated (new kitchen & bath) within the last two years.