Before I have just been reading and taking notes on what others have said but now I have a kind of unique problem myself.I have been saving money like crazy to get into buying real estate and renting it out for passive income and so I have saved up about $20k and I am ready to put it down on a rental property investment...

We are looking at the 80-110K range.

Fix it up to within the range of the area. 

Some homes have gone for 130k in that neighborhood and they range from 1200 to 1400 sq.

We found a few companies here in Texas & their fees range from $850-950 per transaction.

By the way you can buy houses in south Jackson in the 30-35K range without a leaky roof.

My Robbinsdale duplex rents for $1250/unit and I bought it for $195k.As an agent & investor, I'm viewing duplexes in western suburbs (Hopkins, Crystal, Golden Valley, etc) going between $230-290k with rents in the range you listed for the 400k properties.So...yeah...to me...you are right in saying it is too high.  

I am hunting Memphis right now for a lender that will do a portfolio loan for an investor looking to buy 10 properties, hoping for that elusive 5% range rate even if its a 5 year arm.  

The value range would then be based on $9,300, at 25%= 2,318 or up to 75% being 6,954.

Most who join, do so without benefit of any exoerience, let alone brokers license as you have achieved.Now, look for opportunities to help others, give your unique perspective and let others know the type of deals that interest you in addition to your shirt and long term objective in other threads.