Since I have never worked with a commercial real estate agency, could someone share if this is a reliable way to get some ballpark figures on raw land?

You should determine every single expense that the property will have and figure out what is fair market value is when underwriting every deal.

For some reason they filled out the application so that their current address (As far as I can figure) is listed under previous addresses and the current address field is blank.   

Generally lenders look at that figure as 10% so if you reduce your monthly number by 10%, you're in the hole monthly. 

It was pointed out before closing but I figured it would not be that big of a deal so I closed anyway.

I'm trying to figure out if it is at all possible to add value in this way.

It has been pretty good, but we would like to see each other more often and now that two of the three kids will be in school all day we figured it was time for a change.

So my homework is more oriented around which areas I'd like to narrow down to, compare purchase prices and costs to rental income and figure out what works for us. 

If your partner drafts a response to California or mentions to California that he will have representation to fight the letter - the state will give approximately 30-90 days  and put any liens in hold and not seize anything.What the state can and will levy will depend on the amount.I would have to assume that the state will try to levy something more liquid first before they do anything with the partnership interest.

This makes a big difference as many of the big "brands" have no training that will help you understand how to figure out a cap rate or cash on cash returns.