Unfortunately as good as TurboTax and other online softwares are, they don't always pick up the most beneficial items with rentals.

Hey Account Closed - Check out your competition with furnished finder that is where a lot of Medium Turn rentals list their properties.I have a MTR in Chicago that has been decently successful...whatever I have found throughout my entire life and investing career is it is never one property/deal that is a grand slam...Rather, the grand slam is done by hitting many singles and using systems and processes to scale your operation; the combination of scaling and experience in a niche of real estate allows you to hit unlimited grand slams because, unlike baseball, real estate is NOT a zero-sum game.

Real estate is building wealth via the long game.

Hello, I am completely new to real estate investing and was hoping to find out from people who have been in the game for a while what a realistic earning potential would be from accumulating long term rentals over time. 

Wondering if you have any particular online companies you recommend that checks evictions, credit reports, collects rents, provides a lease, etc... all in one place. what are some of the pros and cons you have experienced with each company. thanks

Assuming the property owner isn't playing games, why would an independent appraiser inflate the value? 

Check out other online guides available here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/guides3.

Quite honestly,noone would ever get into STRs at all if they were to base their rental numbers on what an STR made in its first year online.

But I looking at the long game - I want valued tenants that take care of the property and minimize wasting my time.

They are playing numbers game.