If it costs you $2000 to generate 20 calls ($100 cost per call is not unreasonable/your mileage may vary) and 20 calls to get a deal, and you net $2500 on a deal, then yes, there is a pretty small margin there.

Being able to march to the beat of your own drummer (success over time despite the temporary setbacks) no matter what the rest of the world thinks of you.George Bernard Shaw:  “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.

I don't think it's unreasonable to have a price escalation clause if they can prove the difference as I have with my clients.

On top of this I would ask around on local message boards and/or other investors who have used them.50% on a small handyman type of job isn't unreasonable, but 50% on a large job should be pause for due diligence, not that I wouldn't do it depending on my trust and experience with the individual but definitely a cause for due diligence.As has been said before, for every shady contractor, their is usually an equal number of shady customers.

So I have got a lot of immediate "no's" but I got a few maybes and one immediate yes but unreasonable rate without even looking at my financial records.

However, after 20+ years in the business, I don't ask for them much anymore, and don't really need to provide them in order to validate my experience with new clients.I don't think it is an unreasonable ask. 

I need to take care of some plumbing issue  - the  quote my PM company gave is too unreasonable.

But we also dont want to be unreasonable.  

If they are unreasonable and he just likes whining because he has nothing better to do, you can learn to ignore him or get rid of him.

It's not the end of the world, but am I unreasonable for thinking this is wrong, considering I'm paying interest on that $5k,  that I will never have access to?