In Texas with you being new, an eviction service will run about $1000 and an Attorney driven about $1500.

I want to build a good base of knowledge, skills and experience as bird dog and then a wholesaler before a I do my first deal.

Most important thing @Gloria A. is for you to learn from this.

Short of an entire region being driven into the ground with a massive amount of people losing their job and no longer able to afford "normal" rent (Detroit in the past?)

Some owners setting higher standards to hopefully get better tenants, no pets or super high pet deposits, higher rents, higher credit scores, etc.Most of these areas are very school driven though. 

I realize the comps are property-driven for the fourplex, but I'm not buying anything based on comps for buy-and-hold and most of the investors I know in the area don't as well.If I were able to bring in an extra $8K a year under this plan, I know that would bring me an additional $60-80K at sales time.

It’s a very long and data driven explanation, but that’s what we decided on.

Being frustrated at work can motivate you to make investing decisions that are driven by despiration and emotion , , not numbers.

If Apartment A is a 2bed/1bath with washer/dryer and Apartment B is a 1bed/1bath with no washer/dryer, Apartment A should pay a higher rate.

Could be driven by fact many don't popularly have such offerings as of yet.