I'm sure as you said, there are plenty of other ways for an agent to monetize off the relationship

Fortunately, he was smart enough the stockpile the $2,000/mo net rents from the entire portfolio... but he had about $40k in expenses in one year for these 5 properties.

How are you other wholesalers monetizing the leads?

Businesses have to monetize to stay afloat.

It's not as magical as sources monetized by clicks/ads will tend to indicate: IRL each $500/mo block of rent will bump your buying power by about $20k.So if the other unit generates $1500/mo, it'll bump your buying power by about $60k.Talk to your loan officer about specific exact numbers particular to your scenario, but it's not going to jump from $20k per $500/mo to $30k per $500/mo.

The way I would try to 'monetize' a short sale opportunity is to refer her to a short sale broker that will scratch my back with comps and referrals down the road.  

A good solution for you would be to talk to the seller about using a Monetized Installment Sale instead of a 1031 exchange.

Unfortunately this business is full of people that never get to monetizing stage and many who do that ultimately lose it all or simply quit for lack of progress.So do spend time studying. 

This will elevate your stature as a professional and open up a lot more opportunities for you to monetize deals you can’t buy or wholesale.

Are you saying that you're renting the house for $2,800 per mo... netting $1,000 per month and your not providing them a refrigerator?