It will be VERY tough to get a real estate analyst job without a finance background if you expect to make any money or actually learn anything (you don't want to find yourself doing data entry and not learning anything).

. - Total Down: $20,000> A mortgage for $102,000 @ 5% over 30 years , meaning a monthly PITI of about $800> 2 Duplexes (4-plex) with total monthly income of $2,400 *these numbers are somewhat irrelevant to the question, but is just an attempt at giving real world data*The question is: with the acquisition of another mortgage, what are the upsides and downsides of acquiring a secured personal loan as well?

Hi Tracy,If you put all the data on Excel spread sheet it would be easier to understand the deal and then analyze it.

@Patrick VeraI can't say much since I don't have all the numbers and data regarding the property but I think the cost of the property(76000) is a bit high compared to the rents. 62500 Would be considerable if that was to be accepted. 

Most operate all in the same way, but Pensco and Equity Trust offer bank level online access that connects with Mint, Personal Capital, etc. so you can see your data all in one place.Yes, you will have to pay fees to your custodian in order to process transactions, just like a stock broker like Fidelity will charge you fees to process transactions.  

It may go either way.Can you recommend any good data source for occupancy, rents, and other operational metrics for a particular sub-market?

While I was asking them general questions I put the data from the site into my excel and would tell them "without seeing it, I can tell you I would pay around X give or take depending on the condition"

Good info, but missing some data points:What is your goal?  

I plan to start looking in the paper, but i was wondering if there was a data base that existed?

If you can qualify and afford it, lexis nexis has very up to date data.