I’m a 29 year old civil engineer (P.E) who wants to really dig into real estate.

@Stephen Shelton - as the owner of 3 cats, I totally dig your response!

If you are looking for some data to dig into, check out the Chandler Reports. http://www.chandlerreports.com/Site/Default.asp@Dean Harris in our office is another great resource, and is also the host of a weekly radio show, "The Memphis Real Estate Radio Hour," that is great. 

Digging your idea about building bigger and more units.

@Jonathan A. there is a lot going on here that none of us are going to be able to dig through without every piece of information.

@Spencer Packer  I have heard it mentioned several times, but I will try to dig it up.

She did some digging and told me that the person buying the property passed away.

The immediate sold houses (a block or two worth of sold houses on Zillow show most under $100k, but I didn't dig very far).

Your PM probably has leasing fees that will eat into your savings so it will take you 18 months or more before you have a large enough reserve that this property could be considered self-sustaining, meaning you won't have to dig into your pocket to handle a major loss.The scenario I used above is not uncommon.

If you can get the guy that runs the service truck on the phone dig deep for what goes right, and what goes wrong with the system.This is key to any contractor that maintains the property.