My wife and I are meeting banks and brokers this January in Lyon to source our first investment property. 

Last November the investor let the newspaper do a feature story on him and shadow him while he did his business down in the neighborhood.  

Hello everyone,      Im just starting to get my feet wet with analyzing MFP's and was wondering if there are any sources of sample scenarios, or transactions, that can be used to get the basic understanding of how to read the numbers and what works and what doesn't work. 

This is one of my favorite features of Bigger Pockets especially for asking specific questions.

Craigslist has also been a good source of quality leads for me. 

@Shaun Reilly@Rich Ng According to a couple of sources I read, you just need the deposit(s) in a separate account from your personal funds.

I've also used the sold feature on Zillow and my county tax assessor website, both of which are free.Good luck.

I've heard that absentee owners are the way to go, so do you still suggest door knocking as my primary initial source?

This is one of my favorite features of Bigger Pockets especially for asking specific questions.

interesting point,  I bank with BOA because of the mobile apps and mobile check deposits bill pay Apple Pay etc....basically convenience of features.