Isaac Newton put it this way, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."  

You could do that by looking at bookings on AB/Vrbo and see what is available in a few months' time, in the shoulder season.

And ~ I hurt my shoulder, being careful and all.  

Yet in 1995, the po-po caught Hugh in the driver's seat of his BMW getting the old huffer from a prostitute named "Divine Brown," right on the shoulder of Sunset Boulevard.

Hard to defend against when not using an intermediary service which shoulders most of these risks, which most small businesses don't do.

Somewhat like the so called bird-dog, start simple and learn the steps:taking applicationsscreen tenantsplace advertisementsdo the data entry for paymentsdo the billinggo onsite with the Pro to do move-out inspectionsBy this time' you will have a background in the BACKEND / in-house portion of the business.You'll be heads and shoulders above a great many.

Most people pretend that the fate of the world rests on their shoulders... lol.Newsflash: If you're middle class, you might as well pretend you have NO money. 

@Devin JameDown payment get the house the throw her over your shoulders as you walk in the door....

This is all squarely on the owner's shoulders. 

A buyer's agent is only one option available to you, but that may end up becoming a coaching session on your shoulders. ;-)Let me know if you need help strategizing.