Being surrounded by successful people, you will have no choice but to be successful.

Many public records offices are online.

Then I will go through the list and find a comp price, and a market value price for the prop, and use these to compare at time of sale to help our choices..

Wear and tear on these things is tough with tenants (so my new one will become a "used" one pretty soon) but I still think it was a better choice to go new.

The Fannie Mae guidelines are available on-line from Allregs.com and yes they can be read.

you may want to talk to other investors in your area that have been doing it and learn from them. be sure to create a plan that you either type in word or write down and stick to it. best advice that was given to me was read all about investing then decide where you would like to start and surround yourself with people that have done it before. once u find what type of investing you want to do then create a plan and follow it. make sure the plan is flexible too there are bumps along the road for us newbies as we experience the world of real estate in different markets and areas of the untied states. in my opinion the most important thing is knowing your return on investment (ROI). if you're looking for cashflow maybe renting is your alley. if your looking for short return maybe wholesaling. there are many ways to invest. i suggest read them all and make your choice...

Search online and this forum. the information is out there just need to find it. also ask friends and family if they ever purchased some items in the past and read those... i told my parents about my plans and my mother bought a couple of programs in the past where i learned some howto stuff... also on these forums there is a forum dedicated to rate books and other investment tools to see if they are worth it. do more online searching than anything... make sure u dont buy something for it just to collect dust. find out everything for free while u can and make a decision if you really need to buy a book. check out creoline.com also. it's a creative online investing site they advertise products there too but i jus read the free articles.

Does anyone have any recommendations when it comes to lenders (specific banks, credit unions, online, etc.)?

What better way to capture buyers than to offer them a ca$h reward just for purchasing a home through our Mortgage Company... just our way of saying "thanks" (Rewards are between $1,000-$10,000 depending upon the purchase price of home) We offer in-house underwriting with the ability to broker out when it best suites the buyer, online application available to buyers 24/7 @ http://www.deekumapayi.maverickmortgage.com, professional and timely service, on time closings - no stress process for buyers and realtors, we also offer Mavericks "WOW" customer satisfaction, integrity, knowledge of products, and HONESTY.

My choice was a small claims court appearance