Something with a separate living quarters and in a decent area of town. 

Hello,I am a programmer and developer and have been contemplating building something similar to this http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2011/08/investorville....

I guess what I am looking for in terms of a book is something that will walk me through real estate vocabulary (cashflow, equity (how agents speak), etc....

Go work for what you want, join a brokerage, get an appraisal license, get a real estate license, something.

There are also a lot of great companies that don't put their products on those platforms, so there is something to be said for working with an agent rather than DIY.

And doing something right. 

If this deal were a dud and did not cash flow and would be just the same as buying something that doesn't bring in any money and does the opposite as a liability does then it would make no sense to buy it. 

Something that I can profit say $30-50k.

It's not something young people like yourself are flocking to.

I would focus on finding a solid property in a solid location with tenants you don’t mind living with, force some appreciation through repairs or something like that, let time do its thing and then scale up if you want to.