I find the "space travellers" are unfamiliar with the area, and they are starting off upset (edit note:  spell checker must have changed the spelling I used from "Pis***" to "upset") because they had to travel so far from home base...and mentally that already sets their calculater up automatically multiplying every number by 90%.2 - "Be prepared with comps that favor what I need the numbers to be for after I got a low appraisal". 

If it's something like 40 miles plus then the underwriter will probably ask for a letter of explanation to determine how it's realistic that you are going to live in the property and commute everyday. 

Not complaining, but whenever I read the tax assessor policies (specifically in FL), they say they use FMV to determine the assessed value.

Whatever the situation, it’s best to avoid bad feelings or put your sister in an uncomfortable situation.Second, how is the market value being determined.

If you have six tenants paying $500 and have to manually determine who paid each month, that's a lot of wasted time. 

You need to first determine why you want to do real estate investing and then set some goals to match that. 

However, if after the cash flow questions above are determined (not guessed), the answer projects a negative cash flow, then the answer is to NOT buy the property. 

I reckon you need to determine before you buy what will be its outcome.At least, that's what I suspect any potential investor will demand (in writing). 

Ok that is the mental side of it.Next we have the lack of any decent number of housing being built since the over supply from the 2008 crash. 

How is value determined for a construction project and for forced appreciation - is it something I can build a spreadsheet for eg calculating cap rate or is it something that can only be done by professional appraisers?