I own a mortgage company and know PennyMac. 

A solid agent can help you calculate ARV, manage inspections and contractor connections— get quotes and coordinate handymen and vendors post close, provide shopping lists and software suggestions for management or STR furnishing, etc. 

.)- Average days on market- Absorption rate- Historical data on rents and sale prices in the area- Population growth- Main economic drivers (industries, individual companies, etc.)- Crime stats... if you know specific zip codes/submarkets that you'd like to target, the best data will come from local precincts. - and more..I'd recommend remaining active not only here on BiggerPockets, but in other valuable RE investment networks that you can find - i.e. local meetups (meetup.com, eventbrite, BP local events). 

I like this company.. among a few others in the syndication space.. 

Hopefully, based on actual field measurements, past project data, and estimating software, your contractor can develop a detailed estimate that lays out the cost of labor and all materials for each phase of the project.

@Anade DavisHi Anade, You’re on the right track with reaching out to your survey and engineering company—they often have strong connections to local contractors.

I asked the first lender which is a big company and they did not know.

It may sound nice to pay a 6% management fee but the extra fees can add up to be more than the other company that charges 10% with no additional fees.

Timber companies and the feds swap these lands all the time in an effort to create large blocks of either gov land or private timber lands.

I wanted to update on my case as well-- I changed eviction companies in late Dec 2020 after finding out that the first eviction company I hired was incompetent, had my unlawful detainer rejected twice due to clerical errors, and lied to me about the rejections.