If all goes well, my hope is to average buying $200k worth of property every year (20% down), rent it, and repeat. 

If you are looking at multi-family properties, get the last couple utility bills or an average of the utility bills.  

[Meantime, I suggest you change the Terms to say, 4%/y over 20 years].Also, I reckon Vacancy costs will average out to cost more than 5%/m. 

The result is that the average American had a whole bunch of extra money to spend.

My reason for looking into hiring a person with management skills/experience versus handing over to a management company is that the customary method of compensation may not fit very well in my scenario, primarily because my rental rates tend to be well above market averages which will result in a higher dollar amount going to management expenses than would otherwise be the case.

The average price of a unit w/ a good tenant?

One final thing, run your numbers for about a month to find what the average deal is and what the trendline looks like.

But I'm coming up with a number that is way higher than I deserve for the potential evaluation of my property. here is how I see it in my head and please correct me where I am wrong: properties surrounding the auburn area for 2 bed 1 bath are on average for 950.

Seems like great average daily rental cost and year round demand.

I guess it all comes down to who else is applying and what's is the area average.