Read The Ultimate 8 Steps To Getting Started in Investing in Apartment Buildings.Check out J Scott's blog entry titled 10 Simple Steps to Getting Started in Real Estate Investing.Check out Brandon Turner's 14 Things Every Real Estate Investor Should Do Every Single Day.And attend a TREIA (Triangle Real Estate Investor's Association) meeting soon.

If your not working with a realtor, I would suggest collecting data from all the major sites, Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com etc...

https://www.google.com/maps/place/BJ's+Restaurant+%26+Brewhouse/@39.2904,-84.46667,17z/data=!

As far as allocating interest expense, since all 10 are in one note, the accountant and I will do a journal entry based on the basis value of each physical property.Hope this helps.

if you look at the data, most areas appreciate about in line with inflation.  

Also look for areas with population growth Where to find your dataIn terms of the input data we discussed above, here is where you should be looking for each of these: Property Details: This information should be available from the seller, but more comprehensive and detailed information can also be obtained from your local County Records OfficePurchase Information: Obviously the seller is going to name a purchase price (which will likely be negotiable, of course), but the more important information here will be any upfront maintenance or improvement work that needs to be completed to ensure that the property can (or continue to) meet its income potential.

There are plenty of defaulted mortgage data providers.

If tenants deny me entry as stated in my lease.

Wiki the towns and find latest Census data, that's a good tool and will provide solid top line data about the area.

You were the first to inspire my entry into real estate investing and I am forever grateful.