Strategies for partial rent payments is important too, you or a manager will spend more time collecting rent, and you can't automate it easily.  

.)- Listened to 102 total BP podcasts (slowly working my way through them all)- Read UBG to wholesaling and several other forum threads / blog posts (Jerry / Michael Quarles are favorite two resources so far)Things I still need to do:- Send out first batch of letters- Finish website- As deals come in, find ways to automate / streamline lead sourcing and tracking- Improve ability to estimate rehab costs (my two rental properties were bought out of REO and cash flow nicely but needed <$5k of rehab each, so have not experience a  major reno yet)- Practice call script, objection handling etc.. to be better prepared for speaking with potential sellersI would greatly appreciate any insights from the seasoned vets out there.

I'd check the legality of what you are trying to do.Import.IO is very unflexible but works great for quick scrapes on smaller websites.You will have to use something like Java along with a web automation framework like selinium.

We currently use our bank but their online system is clunky and doesn't automate well. 

Pro tip: I did find at least one more thing I can automate and still keep it in my handwriting--I took a photo of my handwritten return address on an envelope, imported it to GIMP (like Photoshop), then removed all the background with the fuzzy select tool.

I did create my own automated system that does most of this for me after I plug in the facts and I also do it by hand once I get a deal locked to double check the numbers.

I've been analyzing tools to do some of this automated work, email, follow up, cleaning schedules, but there are times as you mentioned when human intervention is a must. 

Manual or automated?

Time is your greatest asset and setting up a until and getting it to the point of automation takes effort.

I believe that the trend of low inflation/deflation and decreasing wages will continue.  5-10 years from now I see advances in automation that will increase deflation even more.Most people on this site will tell you to shoot for at least $100 door in cashflow and the deal will work.