We make all residents who have an ESA provide us with the paper work.

So my question is..what is the next step before we ACTUALLY put our business plan and paper, and begin pitching to banks/investors?

Depending on where you are sometimes cartels will do things like this to have a minimal paper trail especially if you are self managing. 

We usually end up with about a dozend people on the first weekend and maybe 2-3 paper applications.

You might need to be creative to do that and show them on paper of how it can work for them and why they should do that. 

Most people won't buy something with negative cash flow even though it offers a return on paper, they just put more down so that it does cash flow or at least break even

Well here are few that I can think of:- You are an Accountant - who views the reports once a year to do taxes (That is it)- You are a Bookkeeper - you want to do the data entry because it does not make you money- You are a DIY QuickBooks user - who will surf the internet and YouTube for answers and not have the full process, procedure, and solution- You are a CFO - review your financials every day or week, depending on your business goalsNow let's get into the nitty-gritty:- You as a business owner should look at your reports by each property and unit- You should compare your Profit and Loss by:----- Month----- Quarter----- Year----- Previous Year Comparison----- By % of your Income ----- and the list goes onNow about your Equity - view your Balance Sheet and see the difference from previous year how much money you paid and received by improvements and loan, the personal money you invested and more...If you are looking at keeping the books for tax purposes and IRS, as well as use paper and pencil.

That stretches 3 miles. we have papers to prove it is our land legally.

I have filed papers for summary ejectment.

Lower end rentals can look good on paper but have such high expenses that they don’t cashflow well.