I'm not showing up with a standard set of interview questions to ask them or anything of the sort.

If it is something other than that, then yes, the engagement fee is absolutely standard.

I guess to get a definite answer I'll have to cold call to get see if all these people are behind on their payment or it's just a standard practice behind some salesmen!

I don't remember the precise words, but essentially he claimed that there was some sort of standard rental agreement applicable to the area and he could not (perhaps in reality would not) add anything to it at all, which struck me as oddly questionable.

@Polat Caglayan very ambiguosu question, but read the helpful info below to guide your next set of questions:)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

They are not a realtor and up to the standards of a realtor.

I don't necessarily need the standard features of pm software, such as rent collection, bookkeeping and maintenance requests, though that could help; but do need a clearinghouse of important information, such as leases, legal docs and other information; maintenance vendors I use; maintenance history; and some kind of tracking system, where I can record the various current projects I'm working on within the business.

With enough knowledge you can make a educated decision on which approach you take.My experience:I personally don't sign up for any program who take you aside during events and try to sell packages that is just blatant sales strategy.Once you sign up there is every attempt to make you sign for their programs for bookkeeping, registered agent, LLC or corp setup fee which have ridiculous even with platinum membership.Basic standard structure they suggest to take advantage of multiple deductions can be easily achieved by proper education or work with a good firm like https://wcginc.com  who is local to you.A umbrella C-crop to manage all other LLC properties and take advantage of many tax deductions that are not available with a llc, its also used to take losses up to 100K as startup expenses and dissolve the entity after few years.Few LLC entities for investing in Real Estate, etc preferably in Wyoming or Nevada ( you can find many companies online who can do this for $150 compared to anderson $1500-$3000) , they will claim they have a secret Operating agreement which is bogus.They certainly try to take advantage of tax loopholes and claim to be smart people, my view they are just taking advantage of numbers as per their own statements.

You may not need to visit each property you buy in that area though.4) Unless you are buying Class A turnkey, you should have a PMC.5) See below copy & paste info:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

There's a few different ways to focus on a lower rate such as with house hacking and making the investment your primary residence, requesting a significant closing credit from the sellers for standard rate buy-downs (which I've had great success with recently), or utilizing lenders who offer short term rate lowering solutions such as 2-1 rate buy downs (again, ideally paid for by the sellers).