I'm a U.S. citizen living in Mexico and I've been trying to find the right deal in the U.S. - looking primarily for 1-4 unit residential on the small side, or as big as a 5-16 unit commercial multifamily - for about the last year. Have funds saved to get into something as large as a $2.5M building, but stuck trying to find my footing with the deal analysis process.

Been working with one broker since March of this year who I really trust, but he hasn't been able to find any deals in his area. I feel like I'd like to start looking at more deals in different markets, as I'd like to make a purchase before the end of the year, but I need to feel confident about the following: 

(a) understand what returns I should be shooting for

(b) have a fast 10-min evaluation system to make initial, high-level assessments of the deals

(c) have a more in-depth evaluation method if it passes the sniff test. 

My goal is to have some standardized templates that help accomplish the above goals, but after reading lots of books, listening to podcasts, and trying to make some tools myself, I'm still struggling to have a good system and feel like I'm just spinning my wheels. 

Anyone have this similar problem getting started? How did you overcome it? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. (Keep in mind that Math was NOT my favorite subject at school.) Thanks, everyone!