I have begun writing down my next 3 tasks to do to turn the whole process into a series of bite-sized steps.

Pull the existing comps based on similar size and age.

It's good at a minimum to have a very short list.  3 out of those 4 you can probably select prior to purchasing something, the contractor piece is a bit more complicated depending type of project & size, you may be dealing with different contractors. 

Some will if the owner of the property is the LLC and you rent from the LLC.With the size of your portfolio, you will find some of your best options with combining your Homeowners with the rentals, auto and Umbrella.  

Howdy all.I have been looking at a duplex in a fairly small town (22k residents from 2010 census) but has a decent number of employers including a major auto manufacturer nearby. 

An operator of a switchboard, or an officer, agent or employee of a provider of wire or electronic communication service, whose facilities are used in the transmission of a wire or electronic communication, to intercept, disclose or use that communication in the normal course of his employment while engaged in any activity which is a necessary incident to the rendition of his service or to the protection of the rights or property of the provider of that service.

A market with healthy employment and rental demand.6.

Family of 6 with the husband only employed.

If you start growing rapidly multiple LLC's to spread risk might be a good idea, but I wouldn't worry about that for a small investor.If you're starting a real estate business that generates income other than rental income, I would recommend an S-corp so that you don't pay self employment tax on all income, just payroll tax on salary you take as employees of your S Corp.Hope this helps!

Fair housing employs people to attempt to trap landlords or get them to slip up and say the wrong thing and then hit them with a lawsuit so landlords need to be careful to protect themselves even in casual conversations with people they don't know.