What are some basics to consider in this and any hint/tips/links for more resources to look into or podcasts on this?

I’ve found Investing in Real Estate 7th Edition and What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cashflow and 36 Key Financial Measures to help me understand the concepts of analysis by leaps and bounds.

I was hoping there might be some tips on what I could say to them (in a nice/professional manner) to highly encourage them to just move out while they still have time. 

Basically what I'm imagining is the Marketplace Properties for Sale page here on BP but instead of just forum posts with all the details in text content and images, a database with all of the fields searchable, and then you could do things like apply the BP calculators against the numbers on the properties so you could easily pull up and compare key metrics like cap rate, COC return, etc.

Hey all! I am super new to real estate investing as I bought my first house in Southern Pines, NC end of 2016 that I currently live in. It has a good rental market being close to golf courses and Fort Bragg but now I ...

@Lynsey Dreis, thanks for the tip.

The location is one key variable that attracts the tenant. 

Are you looking to buy rental properties that need work or something more  turn key?

We're coming at it from this angle, but looking for any other suggestions.Any tips for getting the variance approved? 

The biggest tip I can think of : make sure you find a realtor who specializes in working with investors, typically they will have investment properties of their own.