You can quickly ruin your reputation if you dont execute on your deals. 

This is a practice by some less than reputable companies.

We can't guarantee past our GC that the sub's employees are paid so we rely on hiring a good GC that has reputable subs, contractors, and not a bunch of cash workers.

I suspect maybe something like Hagerstown or Cumberland, which yeah are Class D like markets with declining populations, high drug problems, no strong job base which leads to non paying tenants.

Unless youre in a call center like Rocket, nearly every serious MLO role in the industry will be commission only and self-generated files, meaning you eat what you kill; very few reputable places provide leads or base pay. 

We have seen maintenance costs skyrocket over the past 2-3 years and every case is different but here are some general guidelines for reputable (non-crackhead) investor level pricing in our area of operations:Furnace and A/C replacement with lineset for standard 3 bed 1 bath bungalow.

Check out off-market properties and always use a reputable title agency with great reviews. 20 reviews is not enough for a title company.

The only company I found so far is Lloyd, but it doesn’t seem to have a great reputation.

Either scenario should be closed via a reputable title company which will turn up any issues. 

From what I’ve heard, there are reputable local management companies in regions like San Antonio or Omaha that handle everything from screening tenants to arranging quick repairs.