So I was wondering, is it a viable option for them to start a business, hire me and pay me a modest salary to run the company, and deduct all the expenses of the business and payroll?

They provide my Bank Account to their payroll.

At some point farther down the road you'll realize a sub 5 cap on C is a rip off in any market AND you'll start to see patterns of expenses that are conveniently left out... a few being; payroll, extermination, turnover (different from M&R), reserves, etc.Little deals are easy to "mess up" as a buyer.

Many wholesalers now are just doing robo calling and trying to get folks on the phone I get one to two of those a day.. most I don't talk to some times I will .. many of these are using off shore call centers so semi broken English reading form a script.. but they produce leads.. its just like buying a car.. the sales guy ( telemarketer) then hands you off to the closer.. then you have the I buyers backed by wads of VC money big advertising budgets and super sophisticated web sites that spit out automated offers.. the business is changing no doubt.. and there is no doubt like Will Bernard stated its probably the toughest thing in real estate to master ergo 9 out of 10 never get past first base.. 

Then I read something from another source that shows that banks are sophisticated in this process and are not going to be just giving away deals.In conclusion, if the influx of the problems of this "declining" real estate market is from people that are walking away, willing to have a foreclosure on their records and had no equity in property, then I would naturally assume we won't see the best wholesale deals until these banks really feel the crunch of having to unload all these REOs off their books.

Sheep mentality to crises tends to mount when Mother Nature joins the party and that's when sophisticated internals break down and cleaning supplies are harder to come by.

Only the most sophisticated consumers, pros and investors know that your site values are not replacements for CMAs or appraisals.

I believe that "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" with regards to tax advantaged investment vehicles.  

@Jonathan JohnsonIf you google Michael Blank, he has some spreadsheets already set up that do this, some of them are pretty sophisticated.

I get the whole reason for this wholesaling mania for the empty pockets crowd IE those with no real nest egg that want to go from zero to a RE investor in 3 months  :)I am thinking the real issue at hand is the non sophisticated owner of a 1 to 4.. and at some point the govmit stepping in.. just like dodd frank stepped in to dissuade bad lending in sub prime areas etc.But I see a flip side if you have sophisticated sellers IE accredited like you do for investing in PPM's and such.. then no rules are really needed as the common wisdom is they are sophisticated enough to know how to value a asset and or what a fair price and terms are..