They charge 8% of collected rent, $300 realtor commission to place the tennant and I think a $125 admin fee.

In any given city, the areas with the highest rent-to-price will usually be the areas with the highest crime, rougher neighborhoods, transitory tenants, where you will be lucky to collect any of that rent.  

That's where I could use your collective wisdom.

If the alternative is wait 5 years for a down payment on something you don’t live in, you stand to likely gain substantially by moving on this decision now and collecting rent, principal pay down, appreciation, and tax benefits in those 5 years.  

I actually believe it is useful to have your license as an investor as you can collect commissions from your own deals and search for deals as well as serve others in the same capacity.I recommend making a connection with a good property manager in your area if you intend to work with investors and to make your own investments as passive as possible using them.

I just want to sit back and just collect mailbox money without much work.

You'll find more people on regular long-term rental sites than you would on anything designed for MTR, which is not even a term people are familiar with.If you are renting longer than 30 days, you should screen, collect a security deposit, use a written lease agreement, and follow the landlord-tenant laws for long-term rentals.

Execute a 12 month lease where you can collect a security deposit and collect rent to cover the mortgage and some money towards maintenance.

5) Collect rent?

Either a) They are a “partner” to some extent or b) They will still want 20-30% down.To me, option B is a waste of time and money because I’ll still have to refinance to get my money out to do another deal.Option A would be fine if you can find someone to just put up money, collect their payments, and let you continue rolling it into future deals.