under performing rent? 

Strong rental performance & return Lessons learned?

The pay stubs can be hard copies or digital PDFs generated directly by your employer and sent via email; we cannot accept screen captures to verify income.Once your completed application materials have been received and it appears that you would meet our qualifying criteria, we would send you a link to perform a credit/criminal background check (this minor expense would be yours), and if those results come back acceptable, we would offer to proceed.

A better solution, in my opinion, is not to rely on wholesalers,  as not only is it a dying breed due to the sheer incompetence they exhibit due to gurus' wrong instructions and teachings, but, wouldn't it be better to generate your own leads through a high performing website?

I don't know about your idea of maths but to me that says Midwest performs at 2X of CA. 

Or has it performed as advertised?

Just like when evaluating a potential purchase you should be performing the same due diligence with rents.

You can get away with using 5% for Class A tenants, but we use 10% for Class B and lower. 3) Tenant Payment Performance: you didn't mention this, but it is important!

We've gotten that advice from an old timer in the trades, but Chicago is notoriously know for lagging with issuing permits and performing inspections.  

I believe there can be great value in paid accountability as it really puts on pressure to perform and can provide you with someone to smack you out of paralysis.