@Cindy Joseph if you had hired us and this person contacted us for your property we would not approve them.

Would anyone like to share their thoughts on the effectiveness of cold calling, Facebook ads, and virtual driving for dollars in obtaining off-market deals?

However, beyond that if they are honest in assessing themselves, they might choose to hire or partner with people who can fill the other roles needed such as a realtor, accountant, lawyer, etc.

There is virtually no way around this, unless you for example are renting a room, and another tenant, in the same unit, has a deadly allergy to a specific animal type. 

If its that hard to find comps, I would probably have them hire an appraiser because they can use less than ideal comps and better adjust for the differences and also have a methodology and rationale for how they chose the comps used and how they adjusted.

You can partner with an operator or hire a mentor to help you.Either way sounds like you have a good problem as most people struggle with raising capital so your already ahead of the game.

Also, I'm considering hiring a real estate agent, as they know the area well, and I'd appreciate their advice.

Hire a property manager.If you choose to self-manage, be prepared to handle tenant comms, maintenance requests, and rent collection.

But when you hire a cheap laborer who says they are a " contractor " .

The most recent job fair featured over 20,000 open positions.In ConclusionWhile nothing is guaranteed, the combination of population growth and limited land for expansion virtually assures that prices and rents will continue to increase.Thanks for reading my post.