As for now, lay a good fundamental understanding of real estate and practice, practice, practice then just go for it.

I passed my final exam after each of the fundamentals and practice sections on the first time with no additional study. 

I hope to make lots of new friends in the industry and network with the greatest community on the web to success.

Also, cash flow is not constant ... it tends to follow appreciation because rent increases are driven by similar supply and demand fundamentals as price, yet most other expenses do not scale as such.

Study the fundamentals of a property in the market you are interested and as long as you are confident in your reasons, stick with it.If you are sure why would you be stressed out?

There are just fundamental differences in the economics when it comes to the amount of collected rents, expenses as a percentage of collected rent, turnover costs as a percentage of collected rent, etc.  

The days of the 2% (and even 1%) rule seem to be long gone and anything listed on the web that meet the criteria are usually tear-downs. 

As you probably know, the Blue Line corridor was fundamentally reshaped in this cycle. 

It's the key fundamentals of cash flow that takes the reigns and the duplex will win!

The FFIEC manages a web site search engine and the ratings of these community banks. https://www.ffiec.gov/%5C/craratings/default.aspxI did a quick search of Chicago.