I am not entirely sure how much the NY exam differs from the NJ salesperson exam, but would appreciate any insight on best way to prepare and study having not actually sat through the NY class. 

what is your budget, available capital, asset class, and ROI requirements?

In many C- class neighborhoods the nice next door neighbors watch and talk and steal.

I believe you cannot prohibit them due to disabilities being a protected class and would be discriminatory.  

Luxury Yacht (with decent expendable income) who owns a 3 year old SFH he rents out at market rate in a class B area to stable renters may make a different decision on what to do with monthly cash inflow than Just starting out on a shoestring and a prayer blue coller worker who owns a 70 year old class C that is overdue for a rehab.That is based on personal ability to meet costs when they come due and the probability that costs will come due.That being said, it's always intelligent to budget for CAPEX using real life numbers vs IRS or guesstimate numbers.You also need money for turns, which includes carrying costs when unoccupied and etc...As well as unexpected costs, such as roof damage, or early appliance failure--such as a refrigerator.Good Luck!

They're also critical if you're managing in C or D class properties where self-management may be a risk to your life and safety or severely restricting time you would otherwise be using for expanding your portfolio because you have money to burn and a portfolio size you're chasing. 

There is a reason that A-class properties have a small COC rate, because they give SECURITY, reliability, performance, and equitable gains.

I then read two other books and mostly during class while in my junior year of high school: “Build A Rental Property Empire” by Mark Ferguson and “What Every Real Estate Investor Needs To Know About Cash Flow” by Frank Gallinelli.

Diversify geographic locations, asset classes, neighborhood classes and have a good balance of appreciation plays, equity building and cash flowing properties! 

Likely easy to manage and low vacancy due to being an A class area.It's a cool place that I would like to stay/ visit.