I want to start out by apologizing if this is the wrong thread to post this question under or if a similar answer has already been gleaned under a different discussion.I am extremely new to buying and renting properties, so new that I actually have never bought my first piece of real estate.

I was going back using what I have gleaned here and on Ali's blog to see how I did and to make sure I can confidently analyze my next purchase which I am planning on doing in the next 6 months.

I'm looking forward to gleaning some insight from you!

Realizing you can glean a whole lot of info yourself, right on this site, I still wanted to mention the option. 

Talk to your local professional carpet cleaners to glean from their knowledge... as they have seen and cleaned a wide variety.

All seminars are beneficial to some degree and you can usually glean something new you didn't know before.

After looking at a couple appraisals for houses in my area, it was pretty easy to glean that an appraiser considers square footage to be worth about $10 per sf, extra enclosed garage spaces are worth about $2000, etc.If you go to a different area, all the adjustments will be different, but they should be consistent for that particular area.

Right now, I'm little...I simply hope to glean enough information off the experts to prevents a major mishap that would derail my growth.

While I doubt that the thrill of property management is attractive to you I would encourage you to study different models (low>middle>high-end properties) and determine what you can glean from each holding strategy.This would put you in a better position to step back (as you are doing as evidenced by your post) and evaluate how the choice of tenant type is made as a marketing decision and then seek to acquire properties that match the profile of the tenant profile you seek.Here are the three property management courses that I believe best represent the three tiers: "Fixer" Jay Decima, Tenants and Toilets; Mike Cantu, Property Management Course, and David Tilney, Property Management (he lives in FL but his rental are higher-end in CO).I live in CA and am biased to only invest in CA real estate.

I have set up keyword alerts and would glean as much information as I can from the site itself.