Track all income and expenses of your projects in report form and review that regularly with people you trust in an attempt to reduce expenses and increase income.  

I think I'm on the right track!  

However, before we begin investing in Indianapolis, we want to travel there to visit some of the neighborhoods.At what point can we begin to track our expenses to write them off?

4.On a large (for me) commercial reno and running of the business, are there certain things I should keep in mind that might throw my numbers if I don’t account for like code for Handicap, massive overhead bills, or something of the like, (sorry if I’m sounding ridiculous but I’m really in the dark here).I haven’t seen the inside apart from the pictures.Without knowing the floor plan and such, it may be difficult as an inexperienced investor to know exactly what I want to do with the floor plan on the spot for the contractor to estimate.

In terms of overheads, you should allow 5% of gross rents for vacancies, 5% for maintenance, $1550 for property taxes and $1000 if you want decent liability and wind/fire/theft insurance.Work backwards from there and you´ll have your bid price. 

I'd appreciate any responses to help me see if my thinking is way off track.

You are the right track.

As you get smaller, you don't have as much room to pack in overhead so you will be running a higher expense ratio.

Each State may have different requirements on deposits into accounts bearing interest, so be sure to verify.Use your accounting system to track rents due vs rents paiddeposits paid vs deposits heldWith Quickbooks, use the CLASS feature to track physical property and your reports will nicely snapshot your tenants

I want to help you track down deals, evaluate deals based on your given criteria, and help you to work with contractors or other industry professionals in order to close deals, and build your business and your portfolio.