I miss that game a lot, great memories!!!

I didn't read through your whole list here ... but I think you might be missing the point.  

The listing agent told my agent (the following day) that another buyer just accepted a counter, Missed it by that much.

I'm sure I'm missing something but I think I've rambled enough for now.

Don't miss The BiggerPockets Podcast - they are great for learning how others are finding success.Also - here's a couple articles you might enjoy:The 21 Best Real Estate Investing Books Ever How to Rent Your House: The Definitive Step by Step GuideHow to Be a Landlord: Ten Tips for SuccessOh - and be sure to set up some Keyword Alerts- especially for "Livingston" so you'll be notified when people mention it here in the forums.Thanks again for introducing yourself!

Current Rents: $2700/mo (I believe I can have rents up to $3200/mo within a year)My quick analysis, (using $2700/mo for income), looks like this:Asking Price: $165,00010% down: $16,500Payments @5%, 20yrs =  $980/moOperating Costs: $1080/mo (Gas, Electric, Water, Insurance, Taxes)$2700/mo - Operating Costs: $1080 - Mortgage $980 = $640/mo Cash FlowCap Rate: 4.6% Am I missing anything in my analysis? 

You won't find any of that in a 1003 Residential Loan App (strangely, missing above?) 

One thing people are missing here is that it is not as though the money will be tax free later down the road.  

Years later, we realized what we missed out on by selling the ones we did as we'd have met our goal already if we'd have just dealt with the problems, minor in retrospect.  

Most people missed these nuggets because they didn't have that backgound.