They are monitoring what I do with the money, in the sense that they’re withholding a certain percentage of funds and requiring me to have inspections done, etc., as a way of ensuring that I put it towards a renovation and not just walk away with it.

I also live in Marco Island and believe some sort of regulation will help with the terribly monitored vacation rentals.  

I once had a tenant who started to become delusional / schizophrenic and started to think I was monitoring him through the Wi-Fi signal.

Having said that, I am getting much better at analyzing properties on my own and have a specific set of criteria a property MUST meet and perform enough due-diligence research that the chance of missing major red flags are getting smaller and smaller.And yes, as the overwhelming majority of foreclosures are either cancelled or "purchased" by the plaintiff (bank) and the limited inventory (at least in Hillsborough County) is often bid-up by neophytes or snatched up by large wholesalers and other REI firms that specialize in flipping C-class properties, there are few opportunities for us little fish.To keep myself motivated, I've been keeping a log of properties that went to third-party bidders (i.e. private buyers) which I could have bought had I been monitoring the auctions during periods when I was too busy to do so.

Seems like a great way to narrow down the list then, the best GPs, managers, CEOs, will openly discuss their losses and mistakes and what went wrong and what they learned from it so less likely to happen again.

I agree that a paid monitored website for private transaction would be a boon to those involved.

I like to monitor top 10 lists and compare the in-migration numbers.

As are cellular towers, fiber, the internet, the local gas station, vape shop, computer monitors, keyboards, search engines, and just about everything else you can imagine.  

Some items I think should qualify, such as: time spent monitoring rehab progress/talking to contractortime spent talking to vendors & placing orders time spent talking to PM/CPA/attorney regarding my properties;time spent reviewing statements/invoicestime spent preparing mortgage application,  tax filingtime spent writing contracts with contractors, PM, equity partners etc Some items I'm not sure.

I have a smart thermostat installed so I can monitor the usage also.