Wow amazing, you hit it on the head.

What do people use for crime data . Use to be on Zillow but because they are woke ...no longer . Very important to me especially investing out of state 

Hi BiggerPockets community,We are a married couple based in the California Bay Area, both working as software engineers with a combined income of close to a Million USD.

So most agents are only putting about half of that $12k in their pocket, and out of that $6k they have to cover all of their operating expenses: licensing fees, MLS/ Realtor Association fees, continuing education classes to stay compliant with licensing requirements, monthly "desk" fees/ technology fees to their brokerage, health insurance for themselves and their family, errors and omissions insurance (required), marketing, car, car insurance, gas, clothes, computer/ software, cell phone, closing gifts, signs, photography, staging if they offer that, etc.

I'm entirely new to real estate investing, but I have a high risk appetite because I have seen other people achieve amazing things that many say cannot be done.

Amazing what can come of just grinding volume with cold calling Volume + consistency + follow-up = DEALS.Simple really. 100%

You must use a PMS and for the software to work you'll need to own the listings, which means you'll need to also collect all the funds, so owners' rents don't get deposited in the wrong account (Yes, Airbnb makes that mistake all the time!!).

I would be amazed, shocked even, if a traditional financial institution was willing to lend on a non-habitable asset up to 80%. 

HOWEVER..I'm getting a fair number of deals with significant cashflow and equity that make these amazing buy-and-hold opportunities at 2 and 3% interest.

This is an amazing community for learning and growing in real estate investing.