But I do think people calculate these things differently... that's why I thinks @Jeremy Tillotson hit it right on the head with the gross rents.

I just shake my head and ask myself "Why is it so much harder to do that here... could I do the same if I were over there?

I know you don't want to hear that, but trust me you don't want to get in over your head with this, especially if you are going to work with a HML on your second.

I also think looking at a local market to determine where things are heading could be gold to buy in a d neighborhood that could potentially turn into a B or even a A class in 10 years.

In general, I'm generally trying to wrap my head around a personal policy for reserves.  

Headed out shortly to our first REIA meeting Hope to acquire more local knowledge.

Here is a stand alone I did in my CA ranch style $4M value estate: The old version was fully enclosed and my designer demanded to go this route, note the separate and large shower with bench seating, rain heads and wall jets.Here is a rendering of my Beverly Hills master bath I am doing right now.

Rob - man brotha - I feel for you,just a heads up - this is what I use to do:1.

So, I want to dive into the heads of those of you who actually are real estate investors to get an idea of some habits and rituals that I could pick up that will lead me to a successfull real estate investing career.

Welcome to BP Charles.Need to search the multi threads and begin reading, there will be tons of information to digest.If you're new to RE, start off with a text book available on Amazon designed for agents to take their exam, you need to know that stuff, the basics of RE.Go through the site and the headings for topics, you can ask specific questions in the appropriate thread, there are feature that alert those that monitor those threads, at least some of us do.