I would love to hear insights from people who are doing higher marketing volumes and what high level strategies are working (I know you can't reveal all your tricks).Thanks!

There is a lot of loopholes, tips and tricks to take advantage of so just keep having conversations with seasoned investors, Realtors, Bankers, GC's.

I ended up losing several 100s of thousands of my own money because I was tricked by a promoter of a certain tax strategy. 

Cash for keys is a business decision, it is not an emotional decision, and usually the math works in the landlords favor.As others have said, the trick is to execute it properly.

Why did you get into that and are there any tips or tricks you utilize?

@Tony HofferIt's all a bit odd as the seller removed the stove right before the POS inspection which then illuminated this issue.Ah, this old trick.

But obviously, we have spent the better part of 20 years on the buyer's side of the table, so we are looking for some general advice, tips/tricks, or even the pitfalls of setting up a hard money lending arm to augment our current business model. 

Financing terms are more useful in building your wealth than only having one trick (lower price). 

Initially, I didn't have much time during the day because of my job, but here's what I did: In the evenings, I spent 2-3 hours putting together a list of cash buyers I found on Google using the (Google Ninja trick I learned from realestateskills on YouTube).

She "apprenticed" for lack of a better word under a very skilled broker where she learned the ins and outs of FL contracts, MLS rules, tricks of the trade etc.