Maybe getting a referral from people who are respectful of the property will bring you a better quality tenant?

We have one or two quality wholesalers that we are open to working with.

Those qualities can be the difference between closing a deal and walking away empty-handed.What about you?

if a property I buy and bring up to rent ready standards then starts cash flowing..." - it's not going to. 

Class A properties are going to cost you more, have lower cash flow, yet be more attractive to a higher quality tenant base.

(Government will set cybersecurity standards, but then are rarely enforced). 

Or try the reverse - rehab a property to Class A standards in a Class D neighborhood and try to get a Class A or B tenant to rent it.Unfortunately, many newbie real estate investors are jumping into buying affordable Class C rentals - expecting Class A results.

I know this is an unpopular opinion around here that you won’t see on the front page of the daily BiggerPockets newsletter, but it’s the truth For the record, I still believe a quality STR purchase offers a great ROI over the long term.  

Landlords have limited ability to raise rents, and the market standard is that rents drop. 

While I don't object to spending money to do one's due diligence, I don't know if $500 is called for when you can get very high quality syndication groups/meetups/information for free.