Hi folks, I have a company that uses telephone prospecting to find buyers and sellers.

I always tell prospective clients to work with a company that offers a fair price and that you feel comfortable working with. 

I have a prospective tenant with a credit score of 577.  

If they are doing hourly or salaried work that is not "the practice of real estate", then you're fine.For anything that falls within "the practice of real estate" in your state, you most likely would have to pay their broker/brokerage - so they would need to have a sit down with their broker about how the fees would be allocated between the broker and the agent on the receiving end.In California, the practice of real estate is defined as:"a person who, for a compensation or in expectation of a compensation, regardless of the form or time of payment, does or negotiates to do one or more of the following acts for another or others:  (a) Sells or offers to sell, buys or offers to buy, solicits prospective sellers or puchasers of, solicits or obtains listings of, or negotiates the purchase, sale or exchange of real property or a business opportunity.

I am surprised from the short time I have been reading the daily discussions on BP by all the new prospective "investors" who want to jump right in without testing the waters around where they actually live.

Absolutely make sure you get referrals for any prospective PMs, multiple if possible.Edit: Oops, just realized this was posted a year ago (thought it said day ago)

I'm an investor looking to expand my investment portfolio in the Greater Sacramento multi-unit  market. (  2-4 units) What areas have you found to have the best combination of generating income , safe neighborhoods and prospective upside.  

Do not try to do everything yourself.Always remember to do a math analysis on your prospective properties and try to look at them before you make an offer or at least have a clause in the sales contract that allows you some time ( about 15 days to do a detailed inspection and possibly back out of the deal without a penalty that will hurt you too much.  

Do not cut any corners on a prospective property.  

Look up something called Circle Prospecting, you can use it and really zone into where you had your listing.Pick some more ways to generate leads and hammer them out!