When I run my analysis, I make sure my expenses are covered, my cashflow is acceptable, and COC return is close or above what I'm trying to get.I've always thought of appreciation as an extra bonus to my investing.

Bonus points if it's a service that can also handle order taking/order placement. 

Ray Leon one of my rea's out here is Dawn Brenengen She also has property management experience which is a extra bonus.

The money from bonuses and options allowed me to build a small stock portfolio that is the seed money for my real estate investing.

The man tried to entice my assistant with offers of lowering her rent and/or giving her a longer period of time to pay her rent.

I assume they are treated as a regular rental with a life of 27.5 years with accelerated or bonus depreciation on the fixtures, etc.  

It seems enticing but I don't want to waste money on information I can get from somewhere else for free.

*Bonus points if any Houston area realtors have any local insight!

Make sure they meet your screening criteria, before you spend time on them.Most of the time people who have something glaringly bad on their background or credit will try to entice landlords by offering to pay the full year upfront, in hopes they will bend on their screening criteria.

For me personally I look to double my money in 3 - 5 years and the investors I bring in to yield them a preferred 8% return and an annual bonus payout based the the cashflow of the property that has no cap with a 35/65 investor split.