I also spent time figuring unit costs for materials and scope of work for the different trades. 

It would be a good material to start with.

How would you suggest we go about dealing with a more local (owner) than with the real estate agents who work primarily on the internet with foreigners.

Here is a link to an online RE school with one of the highest 1st-time pass rates in FL:www.realestateexpress.comThere are discount codes around the Internet, Groupon and at most RE Brokers' offices.Good luck   

You will have a lot of educational materials and books to read. 

He makes his money on trying to sell his books , telling everyone that creative real estate is a fraud and is calling everyone a scammer that is a little out of the box.While there certainly are gurus that just repackage material or spread actual lies, there are fewer scammers than he claims.

I also spend a lot of time researching on the internet.

I need to purchase a lot of finishes for a job. I want to get a credit card that can offer the best rewards for what/where I'll be spending (i.e home depot, ect). Right now I'm just using a cash card, which offers not...

After reading plenty of material, I never came across people discussing taxes and LLC regarding buying and holding properties.So if I get this right, you would collect your rents for one year and when tax season is on, you would have to prove what maintenance, property taxes, insurance, P&I cost you in order to get it deducted ? 

I've been following BP for a while and have listen to about 65 podcast so far (All great material Thanks Josh and Brandon) I am here to learn and offer any advice I can giveThanks