There are cases of local governments delaying payment due to budget constraints.

Have you tried attending your local REIA's and real estate meet-up groups?

A client of mine recently invested there and raves aboutt the ease of finding solid contractors who stick to the budget.One piece of advice: before jumping into any market, spend time understanding the local economy, demand drivers (like job growth and population trends), and the landloard laws.

You get some of the strongest rent demand in the Phoenix area being closer to downtown, and then you position yourself for the upside of the growing North Phoenix economy with TSMC and other economic developments.If you want more info, I can send you the 3-5 most recent properties my clients have purchased in the last month for you to review.

Remind them , how they felt back in July and how your deal edges against the amount of cash pumped into the economy (inflation). 

I don't think Im paying my bookeepeer an outrageous amount, although with economies of scale (I have one commercial insurance plan, commerical portfolio loan from a single bank, one bank account, etc) it probably doesn't take the Bookeeper 3x to do my books compared to yours. 

Another idea for housing economy if you have an office is to rig your office to live in but not sleep in. 

I looked at local companies, and while many locals have great boots on the ground, they lack the economies of scale and systems like what Avantstay uses to attract, vet, monitor, and enforce. 

But REI is local.  

Also, you don’t need a business license just to look at properties, but if you buy a bigger property, like a multi-family unit, you might need a certificate of occupancy, depending on the local rules.For business trips, most expenses can be deductible, but if it’s part personal and part business, you can only deduct the business portion.