My market is too expensive via MLS so I am doing direct mail to acquire a house hack.

Of course, eventually it'd be nice to live off some passive income via real estate investments, but I actually love my job and am not concerned with needing to quit or put all my eggs into the RE investment basket right now.

Today, i no longer purchase "turnkey" and the last one I did buy via that manner was in January 2016.  

I know I could find a property via craigslist, possibly through BP!

I also have sewer & water line insurance provided by DEP via American Water Resources (AWR) but every time I call them, they say there has to be a clog and all they will take care of will be fixing the clog.

List the people you paid money to in order to assess the property,  as vendors, and pay them as you would any normal vendor via the checks you wrote to them. 

No you cannot depreciate the appraised value via a cash out refinance.

When purchasing via a lease option, do you get the seller to sign a option agreement and then record it, and not actually go through the closing process with a title company until you exercise your option years later?

Not sure why you can't figure the numbers if buying via realtors the same way buying any other wayFor me personally I just keep an updated list of houses and apts for rent and when they go over 30 days I call and see if they are interested in selling. 

I can make a quick purchase via my PayPal and have a private mover handle pick up from you due to my kind of work as i have no access to cash or pay the mover directly.