If you are looking for a way to sort the wheat from the chaff, ask this simple question:  "When this property sells, who will sign the deed?" 

@Patrick Thomas Dickinson the simple (and only) answer is to buy as many doors as possible in the most stable and growing market you can find...this would take on the form of a small multifamily property...probably in the 8-12 unit range within 20-minutes of a major metro city....you can find this in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Raleigh-Durham, Nashville, Indianapolis, and other comparable cities...they key is finding the property...C-class value add with a strong property manager and you're off to the races...5-year hold with improvements made, operating expenses lowered, and income driven higher means your valuation will come back with enough equity to pull and repeat the process.

I also wanted to keep it KISS (keep it simple stupid) and focus on one region. 

Hello ManatuaSomething simple that you can do is contact a local real estate agent and ask them to pull the local comps for you, by doing so you can develop a business relationship with him\her for a future deals and as a local fiduciary. 

It was simple.

You can get as simple, or as complicated as possible.I wouldn't recommend 50/50.   40/40/10 is better. 

Hi Jim,So you know what you need to do, but bounce around all day....Does that get it done, or are you doing other things like watching Bonanza on YouTube all day.If it's getting done, then you'll only need to make some small changes (if at all).If something like the Cartwright's on YouTube, Hoss, Adam, Ben and Little Joe are wasting your "DAY" time...then you have a motivational issue to overcome.But lets put it in Simple Terms here, You are the "New Hire" on this job, and the Boss simply gave a project to complete--a big one, and no direction as to HOW to do it.Everyone works differently.

The TSP advice is great by the way, I would mention the book "The Simple Path to Wealth" being that you're still young and the compounding power of money and time can only work for you at this point. 

My issue is, I have not found a simple way to record the breakdown of the rent into these categories.

It seems simple, but they can screw it up easy