As a few others have mentioned I think the 15% fee for MTR is the typical industry standard but it can depend on the area

After graduating college with a degree in both marketing and finance I transitioned to the lending side of the real estate industry.

At the time when the chemical industry discovered farmers as a huge market all sorts of herbicides and pesticides (the are banned today) were introduced, stored and disposed of basically into the ground: the farmer did not want to have stuff growing between the barn and the farmhouse anyway, so seemed like a good spot to kick that barrel over.

It is very strange for a PM company to hold rent for that long.The industry standard is for the PM company to pay you on the 10th after rents are received.I do see some PM companies paying on the 15th.Ideally, the PM company can pay by the 10th because most mortgage payments are due by the 15th of the month.You may want to consider giving another look for a PM Company.

How about a  job in the real estate industry both to accumulate capital and gain experience? 

In our experience (Keyrenter has the lowest eviction rate in the industry, at .03% nationwide!)

I'm going to be honest, it is kind of scary venturing into unfamiliar territory, after 19 years in the home health industry, but being part of Bigger Pockets gives me the confidence necessary to not give up or slow down. 

Try to find some industry commercial deal Analysis data but most of them are for muti family .

My practice area ties heavily into the real estate industry and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on ways to build my referral network both in law and real estate as I plan to do some heavy real estate investing in the near future. 

Real estate agents and loan officers can be highly compensated just the same (they have strong lobbies) and their industries set it up so they are paid commissions (which I don’t think is a dirty word), but the difference is that the public just views those products or services more as an inevitable necessity compared to insurance.