Are they doing everything they can to expose properties to the widest possible market?

Properties properly marketed and reasonably exposed, and all that, generally go for more than 6% higher than fsbo, otherwise Realtors wouldn't exist. 

One thing to keep in mind is If you plan on acquiring more properties in the future and place them all in that same LLC, all of those assets in that same LLC are exposed if you were to ever get sued.

Biggest problem was the heat situation. current owner was spending $12,000 a year on heat and rents were low. first thing we did was install 4 gas monitor heaters, 3 units already had them, separated the propane tanks and turned off the old undersized oil furnace.

@Matt QuockHi Matt,One of my concerns about using a series LLC in a non-series state would be if a serious (non-frivolous) lawsuit arises in that state will the judge on the case deem the series to not exist under the laws of their state and expose all of the assets in all of the series to the lawsuit (having all of the series's bank accounts frozen, exposed to judgement etc...).Just my thoughts on this.

I said you can Still sell through the mls though, to the same type of buyers, with the same conditions......and expose it to wider audience and perhaps net more money. 

I'm trying to be deliberate with my efforts to acquire rental properties without exposing myself to more risk than I can handle should the market turn.

Seems like the definition of buy n hold RE regardless of if relying on cash flow or appreciation.Cash flow, in addition to having the actual cash flow reduced such as Las Vegas and Detroit (as two of the worst examples) in the Great Recession (GR), there are other ways to loose money including the loss due to not keeping up with inflation (most of the cheap Midwest areas), natural disasters (could be anywhere but lately it has been South exposed coastal via hurricanes and tropical storms (Texas, Loisianana, Mississippi, Alabama), Ca via fires (Paradise, San Diego twice, Ventura area), and tornadoes (middle of the country), and large beyond planned cap expense items (could happen just about anywhere but good due diligence and conservative cap ex estimates can reduce the risk).We had RE duplex (STR) in Gulf Shores Alabama that we sold after it was hit by 2 hurricanes. 

Also if natural gas is not avail, be sure that propane is.8. i might consider how difficult it is for state approvals as well as local approvals.This is all off the top of my head as far as what I've done in the past to develop small areas.

My job has given me the opportunity to move and get exposed to a new area.