Are there any books or tools that can help with this process or is it just me doing excel? 

Remember it comes out of gross, not profit.Depending on the area you might even see some as high as 40% though that seems crazy to me.What are the essentials needed to manage a property yourself?

- After going through the debris, we noticed that the tools we had in the home were missing.

You may want to try one of those credit score prediction tools - I know I am offered one through Capital One and American Express - if you have any cards that offer free credit score they may also have a tool like that.

Here are the details: Purchase Price: 400,000-425,000Single family home with a mother in Law suite in back; as configured now its a 3bed/1bath and a 1bed/bath; Will configure turn the garage into studio w/ bathroom, so essentially will a total of 5 bedrooms and 3 baths (as 3 separate units) after renovation.

I wasn't entirely sure how I would pay for it, or exactly what I was going to do, but I had ideas and tools ready.

There are webcasts and tools that will help you find deals to get started and analyze them to be sure they are good ones and not lemons . . . very inexpensive source of education and one "bad deal" woudl more than cover what you woudl have paid for an annual membership.

Finding this job was essentially through a colleague of mine.

Not your end game I know, but just another tool in your tool belt. 

Is there any free tools out there that you use to find who owns homes.