Winning the lottery would meet my investment goals, but I won't play because I know the odds and have no way of influencing them in my favor.I have little respect or patience for anyone who glosses over these risks, and I'm glad that you do not provide your clients with a complementary pair of rose colored glasses, that is the sign of a true professional IMO.I still disagree with the degree to which the risks can be assessed and mitigated by a newbie investing out of state, even with due diligence, and this is due to my experience as a non-newbie doing all the due diligence described, going through 7 property managers in 5 years, and still not being able to find a single solitary one that was willing and able to do the job without repeatedly trying to rip me off or leave any profit on the table.

Most brokerages with new agents at high splits take them in hoping to get 2 to 3 deals in a year before they go through their circle of influence and run out of gas and quit.

., what you may be calling our generousity as a nation many call payoffs for political influence, if you look deeper into what we pay the Afgans for example is not charity, it's payoffs for us to do things, conduct business, have access to our holdings and now for our troops.Why is it that east Africa has gotten so little aid from the US, if we placed the contributions of charity on needs, they would be alot better off, but as they said in the movie, no one cares about Africa.

But I have never tracked it and put metrics on, and my gut feel could be influenced by the fact that there 5 vs. 2 days...In reality, it may also depends on your clientele.

Whether you have a mortgage or not will not have any influence on vacancy reserve. 

(They will also determine the estimated NOI under their operating plan and that may or may not influence the price they are willing to pay.)To answer your question, most investors want to know both the CoC return and market cap rate and they are not synonymous.  

Begin by understanding RE basics, the tax advantages, financing, market influences, repair estimates and maintenance to apply to your operation, but the 7-12 year range is mainly due to tax depreciation taken beginning to diminish over time, the greatest advantage is in the early years as appreciation is not considered nor increased rents for depreciation. :)

The deposit/monthly fee has no bearing on influencing behavior in my experience. 

I'd think for someone new, that may be influenced by investor methods, like wholesaling, that they avoid pre-foreclosures where notice has been given.If you're more advanced and skilled in presenting an offer and negotiating without making any reference or even the implication that your offer will provide some relief to their situation and make it clear that it's just a deal and you're not advising them in any manner and do so by showing you didn't target a pending foreclosure, you might go there.The issue is that if the investor doesn't have cash or reliable access to cash, they need to stay away from owners who have received notice.

Before you go too far understand this part of the tax code as it may influence your strategy. you may already know this but I thought it is worth mentioning.