Him and his assistant kept referencing more billable hours but at this point nothing had happened except this cycle of confusion of sending an excel file back and forth because there was no context on why he was asking the questions he was asking.

That is an excellent beginning! 

I've looked into Conway because of it's budding Real Estate market, employment, and excellent university options.

As for the actual rent and if you live off it or not, you need to write it out (use excel) to figure your total income (at this point your rents) and subtract all expenses related to both houses, also account for maintenance and vacancies. 

This is also excellent training for when you want to get your own skin into the game.

Hello,  I live in a neighborhood with excellent public schools and my daughter is graduating.  

Google always has pretty up to date images on the maps app/feature.I then take these addresses and put them in an excel spreadsheet and I typically do some research on the county tax assessor site.

I'm told the market in Iowa is solid, and is excellent particularly in Iowa City (20min south) and Des Moines (2hrs SW).

mindlessroller21,I think you have an EXCELLENT PLAN!

Landlording http://www.mrlandlord.com/mllshop/management.html#P1N is an excellent book covering what all it takes to actually be a landlord.Being a landlord includes all of the following topics.