The second you advertise a contract people will throw their deposit money at you before they even look at the house.

I would consider advertising your units by listing the property online and then have your friend send the friend-of-friend the link (rather than you just directly forwarding an application to them). 

I will try to attach a screen shot but if the info is blocked then DM me Apartments.com can be very inaccurate, especially if they are not actively using apartments.com for their advertising. 

My advertising is on CL and offline methods. 

Because you'll be living with your tenants, you really want to be careful... when you advertise the units, make sure that you let people know that the "owner lives on the premises" ... some potential tenants will screen themselves out, which is a good thing.

They spend thousands on advertising mailers, calls, bandit signs, etc to keep that deal pipeline full. 

If I advertise my property on all the DIY sites (Zillow, Trulia, etc.), will a real estate agent representing a tenant find it?

The two properties are also nearly identical in look and unit type (same developer) so instead of advertising separately we combined the budget of both and got a higher level of advertising on Apartments.com.

My first Listing happened in 2 months AS a NEW ageng, It is 245k listing, after I did open house, advertising, realtor Luncheon, all expense out of my own pocket, the seller terminated the listing agreement simply because there’s no offer in 3 months, which is completely normal in my area and today’s market.

Step 1 saved me 15.8% and step 2 saved 5.3% off advertised pricing.