Honesty, competency and a good business reputation are qualities to look for IMO.I don't think most investors should be looking for someone who takes orders, you don't want a "yes" man, you need someone who knows more than you do and who will assist, be a player, and keep you from making mistakes!

@David Begley  they are trying to penetrate the HML space here in Oregon and if they can't close in 5 to 10 days they will not get a lot of shots at the best players. 

This specialty REI niche is so small that I seem to be the only player in it, which is why I'm expecting the triple digit returns. :-)My point is to urge you to think outside the box. 

In order to reach as many new and aspiring RE investors as possible I wrote and recently released, Real Estate Is A Team Sport.The 9 Players You Need To Profit. 

Corelogic has the smallest market cap of the entire group.These are the big billion dollar players, but these providers, and all the other providers, get their data from the same place, in much the same manner.

I recently spoke to some commercial brokers who were receiving flat commissions ($100-$200k) from institutional players to sell large commercial property deals instead of the 3-5% commission that I see for $5-$10m dollar deal size that I typically look at.Can any institutional investors on BP speak to that? 

Whether you are currently active or just an equity player, I would love to have some conversations with you about possible future projects!

Most of the developers I know myself included ( and again just my small circle) I have never seen any of them put a syndication together to fund these.Few reasons  as stated no cash flow.. returns are FAR higher than most apartment deals by a LONG shot.. so you can attract bigger money players and you don't have to go after that 50 to 100k investor.. you go after that 500k to a couple million or more investor.. and usually only one or two money partners so no need for all the brain drain of a syndication and SEC stuff and risk on the operator side..

The labor usually gets paid on those shows, but many times the input players are acting for free (publicity and excitement of TV) and many materials are donated.

It takes a good bit of effort to get a job quoted and most management companies have a pretty high repair limit before they are wiling to do so.Many charge some type of fee to exit the management agreement.I'm sure there are some honest players that do their best for their property owners but I would not want to commit to a business relationship where there were so many counter-incentives for my manager.