I watched enough reality shows to say I know the basis but not enough to go out there to do myself.

The funny thing is that while IRR can be very precise, it can also be very misleading in the hands of someone who understands how things work but means to steer the investor away from reality.  

The strategy being that many of the folks that bought in that time period have seen substantial appreciation, and are now 4-5 years into the reality of being a landlord, and some want out.Taking that idea up a notch, is to focus on out-of-the-area owners, as being a remote landlord is harder.Up a notch further, is to drive by a handful of those every day looking for ones which are vacant or in dis-repair.

But the reality is I have a first that would never subordinate to 30k second.

In reality I think you are going to need to let them test if they want to. 

The reality was that it was much harder for us to obtain loans after the first 4 mortgages, so it slowed us down, and now that prices in our target markets have risen, it is hard to find decent deals, slowing us down even further as we totally believe you make your money when you buy.  

I don't usually do 1st, last, security deposits (not to say that's right, just not something I do) and the reality is if a couple hundred dollars is going to break the bank, then prob. not a tenant I would want anyway. 

You sure went to a lot of trouble to compile a list of the top mentioned comic books, I know readers of fiction will be interested and entertained.Problem is, the content of all of them, much is fluff, exaggerations, puffing deals, describing tactics or strategies that are difficult to duplicate in reality, often contains unethical and illegal practices, misrepresents RE definitions such as "market value" and "equity" and more often misrepresents title standings and rights and interests.

its all entertainment "reality tv"!!! 

it's called reality.