If you are apprehensive of the market, and believe it will get worse before it gets better, you might consider going to cash, doing a private loan to a flipper on a project where it would be a screaming deal if you had to foreclose, and taking a look in 9 or 18 months. 

(did you notice all I did was copy & paste and change the class letters?)

Generally I start the nagging emails and texts after about the 15th of the month and depending on the response I deliver notice by the 18th.

I suspect that you'll have better luck with a local bank or private money, though it likely will still be challenging. 

They are essentially hoping you don't notice all these little maneuvers and that you look to the bottom of the page to see a positive cash flow.

If you owned a few thousand rental properties, you could argue that owning a private jet is a significant time saving tool and well worth the cost.

I have amassed a decent network of vendors, so definitely looking at fixer uppers.Eventually, I hope to grow my portfolio to acquire commercial loans for multifamily deals, I haven't started purchasing investment properties, only have my private residence.

I noticed that the appraisal fee is higher than a typical 1 to 4 unit residential property, and they quoted and Environmental Study fee, which I have never heard of on a 1 to 4 unit residential property.

They were a hard money / private mortgage lender out of Las Vegas doing about $30 million annually.

I've tried the lower 6-7% PMs and usually you'll either pay mark ups on repairs (what you've noted) or pay extra fees (i.e. labor hours, extra calls) that you may or may not notice.