There were a number of large houses that had been broken up into multiple units, each with a kitchen and bath.

Matter of fact, many of the people that I interviewed with weren't even sure of what they owed.

We feel like our first order of operation will be to find a good banker (after some interviews) and from there we will know our best mortgage option and we can start looking into a certain price range in a certain location as well as finding a good realtor.

(start interviewing brokers, RE attorneys, contractors, property managers, etc).

If you are doing multiple properties you can carry materials from one site to another (shingles for example).

Jeff,To expand on what John said ... all six are the right answer.Just depends on what the question (read the deal) is.But be prepared to switch from one to another i.e. multiple exit plans.Question #1 ... private investors (aka silent partners or HMLs) ... no, not that hard.

From building a 2 story garage addon to our house (which i have done with only 1 other person.. from the framing to the roofing to the siding to interior), electrical, to computer programming, mechanics (building a 550hp street/strip car right now from the ground up knowing the in-and-outs of every aspect. give me a broken car and i will diagnose and fix it on my own), to multiple investing avenues.

Your best bet in learning more is to interview every manager you meet with thoroughly.We've got a property manager interview worksheet that should be helpful.This article should also come in handy to you:Things to Consider when Interviewing Property Management Companies

Amazon will have it.You can see a 4+ minute interview with her on a website.

To specifically answer your request:City: Mountain ViewCounty: Santa ClaraState: CAStatus: Inventory is low and sales are very hotOf course it's all neighborhood/city dependent as with any other area but houses in our area are still selling in under 10 days over asking price with multiple offers and we're talking typical asking prices in the $800k-$1.3mil range.