Its a very sophisticated structure, so just make sure you know and understand the mechanics of it.

The underwriting isn't sophisticated, but most of the sellers are copy-cat deal makers, so most don't know any better. 

This is also why sophisticated investors only look at IRR because one has to look at an investment over the entire holding period by accounting for the magnitude and timing of cash flow. 

From hiring, firing, payroll, to daily book keeping, I've done it all. 

You also consolidate maintenance and repairs, bill paying, payroll etc.One other advantage is an ability to generate "active" income via the PM company and create retirement plans, benefits, SS credits etc.

Echoing what @Andrew Beauchemin said, you can find out owners of buildings by looking at property tax records on your county's appraisal site. if the owner is a LLC (which is usually the case for larger multifamily), go to your state's secretary of state website and look up the business in the business records search. i'm not familiar with pennsylvania, but that's how every state I've looked at before operates. there is usually an agent of record who oftentimes is the owner, however, for a larger, more sophisticated owner, it could easily be a lawyer or someone else.if that fails, a broker is your best bet. they'll have the relationships with owners and other brokers you need. as others have said, it's hard to go off-market without a track record, but maybe by showing your current portfolio and explaining your desires, you may win someone over :)

It's not that simple math is wrong, it's just that you can open your mind up to much more possibilities, like investing in appreciating markets, once you become knowledgeable about 2 things, 1) Sophisticated Math and 2) Economics so you can read the future of the market.Personally, I don't know how any Investor doesn't want to learn enough about Economics to get a gauge on how the next 10 years in their specific Area of investing may turn out.Will it be like Detroit, which went bankrupt but you could easily have seen that if you paid attention to the 3 Big Auto Makers?

We have never hired a payroll company before, and are looking to see if there are any other Single Owner S-Corp owner/employees on BP that can provide us with some guidance and suggestions regarding payroll companies.  

It doesn't matter what the seller is paying for payroll/phones/transportation/pest control/etc...

. :)Usually, the bigger the deal, the more sophisticated the operator is, and thus better records.So if you're doing more smaller deals, you may have to settle for less, but you can try and get creative during due diligence to verify your underwriting assumptions, like knocking on those same doors and getting a signed estoppel. :)James