@Sonal Chopra what a great question, thank you for asking this to this community.Long-term goal would be the same goal my wife and I have today; Build, passive on going revenue streams that exceed our current and future expenses with the ultimate goal of giving away 80% of what we make to charities and causes we want to support.

Here are a few I recommend: "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Roberto Kiyosaki; "Set for Life" by Scott Trench; "The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing" by Spencer; "The BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide" found here on BP; "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Tuner.

To this day I have some guesses, but no explanation as to why.On some forums they have mentioned "boosting" your ad as soon as it posts. 

Trying to start an off market deal pipeline and confused about how to boost strapping pulling a list, skip tracing, and calling 

My ultimate goal is of course make a bigger profit.

So it can be a bit tricky to do it this way, but ultimately, requiring that hold deposit will let you eliminate the risk of a tire kicker no showing on you when it comes to pay and you've already told everyone the house is rented.

Cosmetic value adds also significantly boost the rents and equity so you can often put $30-40k in rehab and create $70-80k equity for example which snowballs over time. 

Is the fact that the seller ultimately suffered no negative consequences and got fully paid make a difference?  

Hi @Barry Randall, being creative by applying room renting will definitely boost your rental income.

Networking with local professionals and leveraging value-add opportunities can significantly boost your returns.