My primary goal is to not have a giant empire but to grow a quality, ethical business the right way while of course earning an income/profit in the process.

That will make your commission that much easier to earn!

Hi Bob -- The Rent-to-Value (R/V) Ratio provides a quick measure of a property’s cash-flow and income potential.It is conceptually similar to the Price-to-Earnings ratio used to determine whether common stocks are over- or under-valued. 

You mean paying to advertise for someone and earn profits on leads?

@Vricia SanchezI love Bakersfield because the lower cost of homes compared to other parts of Southern CaliforniaThere's two problems right now, sellers have no equity and buyers of a hard time getting financingI coach lease-option assignments where you talk to the sellers and show them that when they sell with an agent, pay 10 to 15% of the value of the house to sell, when they add up all the costs: commissions, closing costs, seller concessions, Piti costs while selling, etcSometimes sellers have to pay to get rid of the house or they have no money to move forwardThe solution is lease to own where home owner enters into a lease option with you the real estate investor and then you sell your paperwork to the renter home buyer who was having a hard time getting a mortgage Real estate investor earns generally 3%, 3% of 200,000 is 6 grandPm me if I can helpBrian

And Nashville is booming, but I think prices are reaching their peak and finding deals in the right neighborhoods is difficult, but still a million people are being predicted to move to the city in 10 years.

I have money saved but it is SAVED because I am, within the next two months, getting my real estate liscence, quitting my day job, and diving into being a full time Realtor, so point being I may need to live on that money for 6 months to possibly a year while I get my "sealegs" and possibly earn little to no income (amazingly long run-on sentence, sorry).

Do they use my total income earned from out of state and in Ohio to determine the basis for my tax (could be a difference of .5% and 5%)?

You earn $200,000 * (4%-3%) = $2,000 annually in appreciation by locking in the price of your home today against the devaluation of the US dollar. 

I bought the house for 40k and I believe that if I sold it after renovating, I can earn approx. 25k after all expenses and closing costs.