Hardly any of my properties in the North East and CA cash flow; yet that are the primary driver in my wealth creation and balance sheet. 

The level of federal debt and the dominance of the housing market and all ancillary (furniture, automobiles, etc) parts as a huge part of the economy meant that the fed has had to keep interest rates low for so long that eventually the creation of so much money through real estate lending was going to start weighing heavy on hard assets.

Aside from providing the basics (ie. listing tool to get the property published to 10+ major sites, scheduling tool to schedule viewings, tenant screening with comprehensive applications -- pulled reports from TransUnion, which include nationwide criminal background checks + credit checks + eviction history, digital lease creation tool, rent collection tool, and maintenance tracking tool), some services also offer your tenants additional capabilities which makes it an easier sell on your end when getting them to transition over (ie. their ability to report on-time rent payments to the credit bureaus; this can create an added incentive for making sure they pay that rent on time).

Pair it with a good management software, lease creation, etc. you will be off to the races.First step is make your property availble, list it, learn from working with tenants, and get a feel for it. 

I am a current investor with a 50 unit portfolio in Baltimore, MD and over the past 7 months have started to do content creation showing ordinary people how to grow cash flow and wealth through real estate.

Somewhat of a specific niche, but also an opportunity to get in at a decent basis for a group with the appetite for value creation. 

The way you have to think about it is through value creation for the investor.

You are right about job creation - Texas has evidently created a cottage industry of contractors specializing in fixing crappy contractors mistakes.  

Maybe others on here are meaning Sheets when they say they use Excel (the word "Excel" tends to be interchangeable with any spreadsheet creation software). 

I've done the math on long-term returns (which is what myself and my clients are after) and a few months of lesser returns don't impact the overarching wealth-creation benefit of real estate found in appreciation, depreciation, and tenant mortgage pay down over its lifecycle.