@Calus Glispie as @Ned Carey said $1 is legally considered sufficient if not adequate consideration for a legally binding contract along with a couple other elements.

@Nahal BeckamI concur with @Alan Grobmeier that a high credit score means they have been responsible and as @Ned J. states you always have the option to amend the contract. 

If there is an operation always available, they are either big enough to charge retail, or small and not busy (which may say something about their ability or reputation).As Ned stated, local experienced investor colleagues will often have experience with the best vendors of each type to work with.

Second, as @Ned Carey said, details matter.

I thought about this, more particularly with high-dividend REIT stocks, such as NLY, BXMT, WPC.

As Ned mentioned, even though some of these expenses only occur once in a few years, they can be quite high and must be factored in if you are to stay in business long term.If your expenses are 50%, then you will only have $262.50 left for the mortgage payment and any cash flow.

In the case of FSBO, you may run into a seller who has an over-inflated idea of the value as Ned mentioned and on the flip side, you may find one who has dramatically under-estimated the value, hence a bargain.

Lila welcome to biggerpocketsMy suggestion is to interview several real estate agentsand to attend a few of your local reia meetingsAt your local reia meetings you most likely will connect with a few agent / investors ( networking )As Ned / Brandon stated - a few keyword alerts examples :~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~San Diego, Sacramento, California, Anaheim ,North Carolina, South Carolina, Charlotte, etc

Overnight shipping (FedEx or USPS) can be used for those, and likewise for keys if as Ned Carey mentioned no neighbor has a set.

As Ned said, being held to a higher standard is a major disadvantage.