I like to be 100% hands on - a broker may be more interested in sealing the deal and collecting his commission than finding you the best tenants. 

Personally, even if I went by the real estate agent’s numbers once I paid selling commission there is almost no profitFind something which needs more money to fix up and easy to be upside down

@Joseph Weisenbloom... you had mentioned that fully rehabbed properties are going for $200K to $325K... that's a really wide range.If it is on the lower end of that and you'd need to pay real estate commissions when selling that's a much harder decision than toward the top end of that range.For example, if your costs of sale are 7% (which I don't know if that is normal in your market or not) and a sale price of $200K that's $14K in cost of sale plus whatever you need to put into the property to sell it.

That likely means, the brokerage will want to be paid a fee.Second, some brokerages will allow you to do your own deals without paying the brokerage part of the commission (or a discounted amount based on your arrangement).

By not designing the policy properly, they are fully driving out the cost of the death benefit (and commissions).

They are commission-based but not anywhere near that.

Using your commission is a great way to leverage your cash using your commissions toward closing costs etc...

Local Planning commissions in these hillside neighborhoods are notoriously difficult and lengthy to approve plans.

@Vijaianand Thirunageswaram Regarding your returns, I notice that you are a broker, do your returns include the commission you earn on the sale?

@Brooke McGilvery the agent's commission comes out of what the seller receives from the sale.