Buy in the best part of town or school district, and maybe the appreciation will take care of your desire to hit a home run. 

So, while I have this mentor, and while we are building rapport and trust, as the stakes get higher, my desire to touch base with other experts skyrockets.  

It's mainly about the opportunity and desire to learn, and being able to be trained and taught. 

Currently, the cap rate seems to be mostly 4-5% for properties in desirable SFR neighborhoods like summerlin, henderson and silverado ranch.

I was driving for dollars and found a boarded-up house in a very desirable neighborhood in Charlotte NC.

Just always ensure the property fits your strategy and meets your standard baseline criteria (roof, mechanicals, bones, neighborhood, interior, rental market of area, and desired CAP.) 

I have had one duplex for over three years, it is fully rented out with the same tenants.

I saved up a nice emergency fund for repairs for that duplex. (I leaned that here on BP)

The duplex has around 30K in equity...

As real estate investors, we have a very unique set of needs and most companies and agents out there are limited in their ability to structure things properly and even offer the right coverage in many cases.One thing everyone needs to understand is that anything having to do with rental or any other form of passive/residual income, is considered a business exposure and absolutely needs to be separated from any of your "personal" activities.I've been in the insurance business for 11 years and as an independent agent prior to becoming a real estate investor, I made this mistake all the time because I simply did not know, and most don't. 

That solidified my desire to take advantage or personal properties as much as possible. 

We all have our own unique talents, ideas, dialog, etc. to contribute, so we learn more from one another.