So many practical reasons to invest locally when starting out, but the cost of entry is so low I can't ignore the opportunities...

Except:For cases limited to the Hennepin or Ramsey County Housing Court, Rule 603 of the MN General Rules of Practice may allow a principal (or agent) of the corporation or LLC to sign court papers or appear in court on behalf of the business entity.

I'd tend to steer people away from the practice rather than coach on how to do it -- there are better business models that are focused on adding value that I'd rather see people embrace.My meetup is really about sitting down and talking nuts and bolts, and, while I am agent, property manager, contractor, etc, I don't host the meeting to sell you anything nor do I charge anything to join, which many other meetups do.

Not  totally ready yet to purchase, but thought it would be a good practice. 

This way you have tied up the property and have control over it, but do not have to purchase it/close on the purchase until you are ready at which time he would exercise the option to buy and then proceed to close on the purchase.

Also - would it be bad practice to moderately increase the rent (they haven't had an increase in about 3 years and their yearly $/sq ft is slightly below the market).  

I would like to begin looking into single to fourplex residential locations to invest in and want to get practice on analyzing deals.

I understand what cap rate was originally designed to do (as David pointed out) but in practice I see cap rate being defined and described the way it was NOT originally designed to do.I keep running into posts where the "experts" would define cap rate as follows:"The capitalization rate is the rate of return on a real estate investment property based on the income that the property is expected to generate.

You make your money when you buy...you realize your profit when you exercise your exit strategy down the road.If you do anything now, rationalizing on future events you have no control over, that will recover your loss (overpay) at purchase, you lose.  

It may get you absolutely nowhere (I'm sure the Austin market is flooded with mailers), but I think it's a good exercise to do some of your own marketing and go "on the hunt."