How long would you make your study period (what is typical for residential zoning) and what specific questions would you be seeking to answer?  

They are the bible of operating the business and essential to properly dealing with tenants.

Do you think appraisers typically make reports strictly from data or do you think personal bias play a factor.

No, typically your liability insurance would typically not cover damage done due to negligence of those you hire.  

Typically, they have investor meeting on Thursday evenings at their Bellevue office or newly opened Tacoma office. 

What is a typical split in that situation?  

Typical scenarios that I have been getting for my investors are properties for around $70-90k with rents for $800-950/m.

So essentially the benefit to or the reason why someone would want to become a broker is to open up a real estate agency and hire real estate agents to work for them?

I thought I would give you guys another update about the depreciation thing:  my accountant has essentially advised that we should not depreciate 100% of the purchase based on the the following logic:"As long as you pay the nominal ground rent, the ground rent owner can't sell the land, so I think that land still has value and there should be some sort of allocation to it.

You essentially trade equity for cash that most be repaid over the course of your new loan.Here's an example I found on Bankrate.com: "Let's say you still owe $80,000 on a $150,000 house, and you want a lower interest rate.