.#1 A Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) It it's very helpful to your brand to have a good website .

Elise, I am from NJ and my properties are in PA, my PM has never charged that. 1099-MISC is for sub contractor when you pay them, as a PM you are not paying owners because we own the property, we pay you and if anything we should be sending that to the PM, but you should be professional enough to report your income, that income for you is subject to SE tax which you would have to pay. if you are going to charge your customers to cover that cost on top of your normal rate you charge, you may not get any business.

Vendors can do it because we spread the costs among thousands of customers. 

Something else to consider is the type of customers this type of business will draw.

About two months after the payoff, I received another offer from the same lender, offering $200,000 at a reduced rate of interest since I was a ‘preferred’ customer.

For me personally, RE has been an unrivaled investment class. 

No business will last long if they automatically assume their customers can not afford to pay and simply allow them to walk away.

I'm going to make it really custom to the group that will be there. 

They are usually always willing to help point you towards their better/more reputable customers because they get more business from the recommendation. 

As long as proper expectations have been set and it is not an emergency, getting there to do this "preliminary evaluation" within 48 hours is still excellent customer service.