I know it’s going to take a lot of digging and possibly building my own pipeline for off-market leads to make this strategy viable long-term.

As a powerful organization, I would like to see Bigger Pockets become a leader in not simply educating real estate investors but leading the way in warning investors about the real estate guru pitfalls.  

Floods lead to heavy vegetation growth.B. 

Others rely on networking... hooking up with probate or divorce attorneys who sometimes have leads on properties that aren’t widely marketed.If you decide to hire a property manager in the Jasper area, maybe chat with a few owners who’ve used them.

Their different backgrounds will lead to 80-90% of the same stuf being pointed out, but the 10-20% differences can be eye-opening and lead to more accurate bids.Suggest you visit a Home Depot on a Saturday, between 6-8am.

I’ve been working probate leads here in San Diego for some time and your words are right on point…lot of time for sometimes little to no return. 

-A water heater issue resulted in repeated mismanagement—confusing unit assignments—leading to extra costs to fix the same issue 3 times and on each occasion "more fixes" needed to the water heaters that I plumber said was needed.

Changes to local landlord/tenant laws and new situations involving tenants lead to these annual updates.

I don't know if theirs is too good to be true and actually I think the fact that they have the VA system set up to work on leads for you is a huge plus.

However, if you're a W2 high income earner or business owner, I can't imagine it makes any sense to flip houses, mail mass post cards, wholesale, or build lead gen websites with the value of your time being better spent other places (such as learning about real estate and increasing your income through proven means), such as at your 9-5pm or growing your business, and your real estate is a long term process and you don't need "home run" deals to qualify or make it work.