If they have unrealistic expectations of what I'm trying to do, it will end up wasting a lot of my time and get their hopes up for no reason (which will leave them angry at me in the end).Remember, your service will only strike a nerve with a small segment of the people you're mailing to - so don't be bashful about steering the wrong people away.

You have to be an unrealistic to achieve your goals!"

Eric I respect your opinion but do not agree with the (ludicrous) remark.Every time I here this flat fee scenario it is the same as the FSBO.Simply put if it was that easy EVERYONE-EVERYWHERE would use a flat fee service.I do not know the types of properties you are selling but I suspect they are very well done rehabs priced in the middle to lower pricing to sell fast.In that case as I mentioned the price and quality will draw buyers and agents in regardless of the commission as appraisal is usually easier.I don't see this as all the properties on the market.Many properties have unrealistic sellers and buyers.This requires multiple price reductions,appraisal issues,more negotiations,etc.

This causes spectators and followers to have unrealistic expectations, especially if they're new in the industry.

I agree, and disagree, TBH.I agree that expectations can be unrealistic, that anyone who says it's easy is lucky or much smarter than me, and that you're absolutely correct about not buying into the hype being very important.This said, I do have some feedback based on my own experience (which I guess like some others is a bit of an "outlier") - take it as you will, it's not meant to demean or say you're wrong / have done something poorly; it's just to give another perspective, and maybe some ideas. 

The gurus often set unrealistic expectations for results.

If it is the contract buyer, I think that is a bit unrealistic to have a financed, non investor buyer put 50k down on a 200k property.  

We just need to get accustomed to the fact that it was an unusually good market before, and if we insist on those exact conditions returning before we purchase our next investment property, we will pass up on getting good assets because our expectations are unrealistically high.

While that investor may have had unrealistic expectations, inexperience or simply bad luck, once the deal closed, they were miserable. 

Is it unrealistic to be able to find a property for ~$100k that meets the 1% rule, is in a decent neighborhood, and has good property management?