Having 1-2 go-to vendors for the highest frequency problems… plumbing, A/C, septic, electrical, and roofing, I can pretty much make a 2-3 minute phone call and pass the problem to someone who will solve it with little more input required from me.  

Enter a maintenance request, assign a vendor, and attach a fake invoice.

We are pretty solid there as we have been operating 8 years and have good relationships with our vendors and we also have in house employees

Meeting a vendor in California does little help for someone in Florida.All these events have the word "con" in it.

Your list is more about the 3rd party vendors absolutely needed but who in my own are outside the core ownership team.

All vendors come back to you to turn in tickets for cash and to pay your percentage or fee. 

Most of the time, to purchase their builds, you have no choice but to use their recommended vendors, setting you up for failure from the start.

Shows how some vendors think about working with us and other industry leaders. 

People who own property already will know which vendors are best in the area.I was talking with an investor the other day about realtors, and she put it quite eloquently: "If you are working with a realtor who doesn't own a house, what you do have to tell me about buying one?"

One of the PMs I use, does some investing on the side and has access to his own set of contractors/vendors.