It's just a piece of paper"Massachusetts law deals very clearly with this - and prohibits it.From MA Law (emphasis is mine): "''Real estate broker'', hereinafter referred to as broker, any person who for another person and for a fee, commission or other valuable consideration, or with the intention or in the expectation or upon the promise of receiving or collecting a fee, commission or other valuable consideration, does any of the following: sells, exchanges, purchases, rents or leases, or negotiates, or offers, attempts or agrees to negotiate the sale, exchange, purchase, rental or leasing of any real estate, or lists or offers, attempts or agrees to list any real estate, or buys or offers to buy, sells or offers to sell or otherwise deals in options on real estate,..."

The bulk of profit on a real estate deal is going to be the appreciation eventually so that is my main point of emphasis, the location and if it will at least pay for itself after all the expenses.

(emphasis mine).  

etc.I would not put too much emphasis on the rental rate.  

If you have more available cash and other income, you might start with more emphasis on appreciation/capital preservation vs. the opposite. 

I don't expect this property to cash-flow more than a rounding error for the first year or two, thus the emphasis on low/no fees.Thank you,Donovan

I have a Bachelors of Science in Business administration with an emphasis in Realestate and Land Use from California State University Sacramento.

In the first case the emphasis is on entering a contract with the full intent of purchasing; if I find a buyer before closing so much the better, but I will close in any case.

(not really, but for emphasis :)

Place the emphasis on what they can control (offers delivered to sellers) instead of actual contracts produced for your wholesale business to sell.