@Chris Kay it depends what level of renovation you are doing!

The "big" firms like AA may get a lot of hype but they generally can't compete on the next level tax strategies (Family office type strategies) nor customer service as their employee turnover is quite high.  

THEY ARE STEALING FROM YOU (remember your remark about him not even getting a fast food/entry level job? 

Yes, about 82% of properties are matched to a person in DealMachine - you get their phone, email, age, birthday, income level, renting OR owning.

And the reason why your "tale of two halves" will play out as you described.Demand:  This has actually been high almost all along, but rent growth hasn't materialized in response due to high levels of new supply. 

I think the reason that Grocapitus or Neal Bawa were not getting much response either speaks to their level of participation in BP (Neal obviously doesn't spend much time here), or the fact that unhappy LPs were shy, or happy LPs were shy, or BP does a poor job of really getting posts noticed.

You'll want to work with people who are highly motivated and skilled in their field. 

You should not get a PM until you have scaled to a level that requires it.

You have a skillset that could be extremely useful for quick fixes and landlord issues and from there you can bridge relationships and partnerships to enhance your knowledge of real estate investing and couple your skills.

No real talent, no skills, no friends that are not being bought.