So I am 23 years old and I am looking to start getting my foot in the door in real estate.

@Josh Dane I've been thinking the same thing, but she supported me deploying after being married only a month, and she supports many other things in my life, this is just one thing that she really puts her foot down on. 

Within the first couple days of rehabbing my live-in flip, I had a nail go through my foot, and almost knocked myself out cold pulling off a door jam.  

The house is a 2700 sq foot duplex built in 1920 in a C+ B- neighborhood.

Tenants can see the size of the space and probably don’t care about having a 2 foot closet or a window in a bedroom but the appraisers do. 

Most recently I paid $2.75 per square foot for 12mm thick with attached foam underlayment pad at a damaged freight store.

@Chris Clothier  the point I was trying to make and maybe it did not come out right.is that with real estate you simply cant have linear growth year in year out for 10 to 15 years.Rents simply will not go up year in year out and appreciation depending on market can swing wildly as we know.So while I understand long term IRR projects I was just saying they are still educated guess's as to what the future will holdand 1000% an investor that is not self managing there returns over time will be directly related to the quality of PM and their interaction with PM allowing the PM to do a good job for them.. sometimes owners are their own worst enemy by not allowing PM to keep their homes in tip top condition.a little off subject but my partner and I when we bought our planes.. that was one thing we agreed on there would be not one dime spared on maintenance and keeping those things in perfect shape.. you can see other pilots buy the same plane skimp on everything because it was legal.. but when you look at our plane that is now 14 years old its pristine.

However, I would seriously caution you to make sure your family is on good financial footing before you jump in into the investing realm. 

Don't forget to include in your numbers but I believe you cannot legally let one tenant pay utilities of another tenant, you foot that bill.

They should be  able to give you a general dollar amount per square foot.