They will cause deeper damage than the shutdown.

Assuming that professionals that were referred to me by other investors I looked up to were the right fit for me and not taking a deeper look into them before working with them.

A book to dive deeper into it is The Lords of Easy Money.

They do the bandit signs and cold calling and all those things.If you want to do those things to get a deeper discount, by all means, go for it.

Would you recommend this for a first time investor or would you recommend they get a few under their belt before they delve into section 8?

If it needs exterior repairs such as painting and roofing, then you have to dig deeper and make sure the association has budgeted for these repairs. 

I probably went in deeper than I needed to here, but I wanted to support my claims a bit.

I am fairly new to BP and am just beginning to delve into all the forums.

If you really want to analyze a deal you need to dig deeper and try and pin down specific expenses -- taxes really vary from building to building, as do the utility costs (particularly if your tenants pay heat or water) and maintenance completely depends on the condition of the building.I've found that expenses have been between 25-30% of my rentroll (and we pay heat and water, if tenants do, I'd say 20-25%) -- I also pay a super, if you want to do that stuff yourself that's another 3% or so you can save. 

How can I dig deeper and understand more?