I purchased the condo based on the assessments, and then when a significant special assessment was levied, I could barely keep up with it. 

I'm from Cleveland and based on what little I know about that property, I'd steer clear. 

(I have however signed up for the Robert Kiyosawki free 2 hour 'intro course' on Friday in Kanada (Ottawa) Ontario on Friday if anyone else is going there).Best think I would think would be to get active in the forums, try out the calculators to see how they work, if you are excel savvy, you could do up a base estimate sheet fairly quickly.

For an 800sqft house, us its value based on the lot or the house?

All expenses and gains flow based on ownership percentages. 

The area seems to be a stable economy that is supported by the Air Force Base that is near by as well as some industrial type companies.

As you can see there is too much equity - based on a 30% down on each property I should be able to cash out a good amount of equity and go buy something and repeat.  

The only hesitation I have with this deal is that I THINK it could sell for 580k based on comps but this area is not consistent.

Building a 1500 sq. ft. house would cost $150,000.00  If the developer wants 12%ROI based on ARV he will need $36K in profit, there's also some soft costs, let's call that 12% as well.  

A year later I was moved into a full-time position managing a 100-seat computer-based testing center on campus.