Also just look online and steal some ideas...I used to Google Luxury Kitchens and then figure out how to do the same for less $$.You'll be fine with your experience.

If anyone has experience with their lead quality, conversion rates, or overall value, I’d love to hear your insights.

Nobody ever went broke over a duplex, I know this now,  but I have to admit I had some serious doubts about this when I started 16 years ago, I bought every course I could find, already on CD's, this was post cassette tapes lol, and I paid RichDad Education for a one year coaching program (turned out my coach was a girl in a call center without any actual experience). 

As the investor gains experience, they are not only able to more successfully foresee the “bumps” along the way, able to handle recessions, temporary negative cash flow, unforeseen capital expenditures without panicking, but will also recognize the opportunities necessary to turn a loss into a break even.

Loan officers with 25 years of experience typically are more experienced, and have less time per file, because they have an abundance of files.Loan officers with 25 months of experience typically are less experienced, but have more time to devote to you.I can't write my own loans, so when I'm getting a loan I prefer working with less busy people when I'm doing my own real estate investment, they're more responsive and dedicated it feels like.

She has quite a bit of experience regarding investment real-estate purchases.

Figure out a question set that helps dive into their expertise as investor-friendly agents, ask about their experience in the investment real estate space, and have them send you a few properties that could meet your goals to show that they can provide quality properties for your to analyze (hint: this is also good to see if they overpromised on their market [ex - Raleigh for cash flow]).Also with the new lawsuit, any agent that knows what they're doing will require you to sign an agency agreement prior to viewing a home.

I look forward to reading more of your experiences.  

We had a couple "we buy ugly houses" type companies come in and offer less than even the lot itself is worth. I

In our experience, things move in ebbs and flows and the speed of rental depends on your asking rents relative to competition.For example, there was a period of several months at one of our properties when a 3 or 4 BR unit came on the market it rented almost instantly.