Another difference I've seen is the number of people who respond to the mail piece only to tell you to take them off your list is several fold higher in the Bay Area than in other markets I'm familiar with.  

My question is two fold:1 - has anyone ever paid for a contractor's time for site visit/scope of work/repair estimate? 

Over the past weekend, my wife and I printed, folded, and mailed 500 direct yellow letters out to absentee owners.

The people who attend, although they pay a lot of money, all get it back three fold IMO. 

I believe the reason is two fold: Main reason is that in his market, the price points are much lower which makes it more difficult to deliver good spreads.

The problem with that is two-fold: first there are likely existing assets that are not replaced that qualify for shorter asset lives so you're leaving money on the table, and second you have no cost basis for the removed assets replaced in the remodel as they're intertwined with the initial building cost basis so you'd technically still be depreciating retired assets which is tax fraud. 

Very annoying to have to use a slippery folding chair to set my book and glasses on.Dressers in the bedrooms: living out of a suitcase for a week gets old.

For example, if we can increase rent (from LTR to MTR) by $1K/month, we spend ~$7K to furnish and stock.6) We pay for a professional laundry service to wash & fold our bedding and towels and couch protectors - every month.

I listen while I'm driving, at the gym, folding laundry.

So If you have a well performing REI, fold your hands and sit it out IMO