If learning is your aim you've arrived at the right place.

Once I arrived at the property he told me he had several offers from those “we buy houses” people.

Thanks...So do you guys arrive with your own purchase agreements in hand?

You just kind of get drawn to it or somehow arrive there as a result of everything that can before.

The number you have is the top-end of what you could pay for the property and still have a profitable rental in the end.If this second number is greater than what you arrived at as the value of the current business, then the delta is your negotiating space.  

I introduced myself to the organizer when I first arrived and to others as well.

I would assume anyone capable to write checks to pay your rent, who was able to drive a car to arrive at your property and has the normal functions required to navigate through life on a daily basis has the faculties to understand if the toilet seat is up it also can go down once they are living there and/or has the ability to raise a closed lid to peer into the bowl and examine it all they want if that's one of the major rental decisions or not.

Determine the best payment methods.From this, you can further back into the property value to you and your best offer price with cost considerations, such as vacancy, repairs, maintenance, replacement, insurance, taxes (property and income), overhead costs (daily and during vacancy), finance costs, and then your acceptable risk/workload vs. reward.Now, you have arrived at the acceptable property value to you and your best offer price for the investment opportunity.

What: Stockton Meetup - chatting about Stockton / San Joaquin Valley and Bay Area deals, share experiences, tips, failures, etc When: Tuesday, Jan 21, 2014 6:30PM to whenever (arriving late is fine) Where: Residence Inn Stockton. 3240 March Ln, Stockton, 95219 Food & drink: Free drinks and snacks/salad until 7PM or 7:30 (can't remember how late)

Strategy for arriving there?