They will help push you in the direction you want to go. 

Constant communication, follow ups, being on top of their transaction, and making sure to not be salesy by pushing out terms that may or may not work. 

When I called the owner and told him who I was, he said he was actually thinking about calling me to see if I would be interested in managing the property for him.

because so often it's the Realtor who is pushing a "cash cow" either disingenuously or because they just don't know how to run the numbers. 

Same reason why an agent may push a seller into accepting $10k less on an offer, it gets the house sold and the difference is only $300 to them (based on 3% commission), whereas it's $9,700 to the seller. 

Additionally, my renovations are full guts anymore, which helps limit some competition and allows me to push the ARVs relative to other houses for sale in the neighborhoods.Admittedly, this doesn't necessarily create substantially more deal flow.  

I was thinking it may be closer to a "wash" or, maybe only slightly more only bc w/ a duplex at least we aren't paying for two exterior wall materials for two sfh?

@Mark Wright, I really appreciate the sensible input and agree that regulations and restrictions are needed, but hope that the town works with local owners to accomplish their goals and don't just push them out.

I used Citibank for a while which worked but they recently pushed me out with much higher minimum balances and fees so I wouldn’t recommend that now.

If I know I don't have someone coming in the same day (and especially if no one's coming in the next day) I'll push the cleaning out if possible and then let the guests know they can stay as late as 5PM, and for free.