I would not use Zillow or Trulia - first you need to know who created the background is key.

An exercise for you is to change this phrase "...knowing that my real concern is their inability to pay the rent due to maternity leave" and substitute "maternity leave" with "being X" where X is another protected class based on race, gender, ethnicity, etc.

I’m excited to share that I am about to go under contract on my first investment property!

Any advice on what your first were when investing would be much appreciated.

talk to the dept of health first (records requirements etc), establish what upgrades/maintenance required, line up a reliable repair/handyman/type person, consult lawyer, and then make your offer, see if you can buy the land it's on via lot line adjustment (ideal scenario). a lot to be aware of, such as system upgrades or county code changes bringing in the requirement to add metered connections to an older small system, for just one example.Otherwise- owner doesn't want to manage, I doubt you really do either but could be wrong. 

Any time you can add more housing to the same lot, it's a good idea, but you first want to check with the city to see if you can and what you will need to assess those costs.

If you find one who has rental properties and has first hand experience that can be VERY helpful.The conflict of interest is a common question, but really a non-issue if you consider the size of the market and how many properties an agent can buy.My team and I work with a lot of investors and yes I personally buy a handful of properties every year, but there are about 30,000 transactions every year in Milwaukee.

Yes, for my first building I am looking to get into a 4 unit building to start.

Any first hand experience with Home Room? 

I’m currently in the process of securing capital for my first flip and learning as much as I can.