You can also ask for a copy of Schedule E of the seller's tax returns, with SSNs and other properties blacked out, to see what they tell the IRS the cost of utilities, etc, actually is.Whatever the sellers claim rents, NOI, etc, is, you can go ahead and disregard those numbers.

(Zillow and other web sources aren't clear)4.

@Carl Brown your web address www.vcaproperties.com seems to be hacked.

Jack is the victim here....Don't listen to Jack.I've got a credit report that I keep at my desk to show people (name/ssn/etc blacked out).

I recommend an in-depth title search - assessor web sites usually have the 1st mortgage on a property - not any subsequent refinancing.Nail down those comps.

It should be very black and white.

I'm doing it all web based (google sites) supported by a bunch of videos I created.  

To get a feel of how it goes in your County be going through the research and going wherever you can buy through an auction and just witness the process of the sales.Most locations on are on the web but you have to ask a Country employee to help you and get all of the basics through them.  

@Michael Wind, For digital marketing, the web traffic you get from these sites, at least Airbnb in my experience, is far greater than you could achieve without significant ad spending.

I could of course just scour the web and interview with different companies, but i figured I could cut down on research time by coming to the community for recommendations of good groups.