I want to know, personally, how to get started with owning rental properties but don't know where to start.Areas I would interested to know more about would be:1)business entity set up 2)tax-advantaged strategies 3)setting up most of my business on 'auto-pilot' so I can focus on my career but start building up a passive income source4) what types of excel sheets or other types of software you guys use to manage your real estate and run basic evaluation as to whether or not a property can be a good investment5) what types of things I should be looking for or aware of while starting out that you wish you had known before getting started6) good sources of financing or places to look for when buying an investment propertyIf there's anything else you can think of I would really appreciate your personal input!

RUN.You need to use realistic expenses whenever you evaluate properties.

Here is my version about how to evaluate a good deal. 

I'll re evaluate at some point).

Based on my evaluation of the property the gross rents will cover all expenses (PITI for traditional loan and HELOC); therefore no money down purchase.  

Thanks JD, seeing how many aspects go into this, I would ideally like to find someone that I can physically shadow, such as during property evaluations, negotiations, etc.

But I need to be able to evaluate and determine who the appropriate tenant is for my property.

I'm really excited, and this rental property we're closing on, I have actually done some self-education and evaluation before going into it.

This can be very subjective, so you will have to evaluate what you truly value and whenever you spend money (whether it be $100 or $1,000,000) that it has some true, impactful purpose behind it.People also aren't methodical when it comes to saving money.

The 3 most important factors on a macro level in evaluating a market in my opinion are 1.