Think about it, a $260k unit in CA leaves the lights on all day; a $52k unit of the exact same size and layout leaves the lights on all day; you telling me that the electricity bill is going to be 5x higher for the unit in CA?

Both of these things tend to increase rates without, intuitively at least, increasing risk.

Go online and find a few good layouts/ideas you like and take it to a designer/architect/engineer and let them take it from there.

But all of the points you lay out about real estate investing boil down to the averages.  

Ofcourse not all CPA, Accountants, tax experts are QuickBooks expert and vice versa.After you purchase: What do you get from them: free consulting, software purchase (did you know Intuit compares big retail store prices?

-put the name of the pet, age, and other info on the pet addendum-and go with your gut/intuition, if you think the pets are going to problem, don't rent the property to them-always ask their former landlord "how did the tenant do with their pets".

My intuition is telling me that it depends on how any cash generated is reinvested, but I'd like to know what more experienced members of the community think.

I used Squarespace, very user friendly and intuitive.  

Convenient enough but a house with the exact same layout but without the finished space above the garage just went under contract for 188k and the finish is less than what this one will have.  

To determine the value of a mobile home you must understand the market, the type/size/layout and the condition.