I am a high performer and run my own territory.

See what the $19k was for first, it may have been neccessary, but still that does not make it ok for them to do it without a signed CO.You can ask an attorney a few questions using sites like Avvo or Rocket for not much $$$.

Although I’ve been investing in real estate, both directly and indirectly for 45+ years, I still get a “queasy” feeling when an investment does not perform as expected.My “aha” moment occurs when we reach the point when, despite the investment problems, we’re able to still show a good/substantial profit at the end of our holding period.  

I have a feeling just starting out my home is not going to get much exposure on sites like air bnb or vrbo until I get some good reviews.If anyone has experience in this market I would be intrigued to hear how best to manage my new STR.

My Glendale house still performs well, but it just seems to have a bit more on the member management side than the rest due to the members I have been exposed to. 

Does this mean the realtor does not have exclusive rights to sell the property and the owner is probably advertising the same property on one of those by owner sites?

Basically, these are lands that technically qualify as Sending sites, but that have issues such that nobody really wants to build there.

We're also starting to scour other forums for possible investments outside the traditional MLS sites, and other areas like upstate NY. 

Some sites are not able to provide back a credit score, because they don't know how you will handle the data. 

GC in my area cost 10% of the total and I would say that is worth it for what they provide, but if you have the knowledge and willingness to be on the phone with subs (and spend a lot of time on site) you could save that by DIYing it.