A buyer without an option cost, could literally go under contract with 10 homes and pick the one that he really liked without any cost to him/her.Without an option money, a buyer could literally send out contracts on every home he sees online that looks decent, and then tie up hundreds of homes.

I am currently in the class (online) and attended a review class this past weekend.

My current job would make it difficult to attend a classroom setting so I need to take an online course to complete the 60 classroom hours required to sit for the exam.

We used their online appeal website and they rejected the appraisal!  

Does anyone have any recommendations for online schools?

It has everything you need on real estate investing including free online courses and videos for you to watch and learn from.

If anyone using other channels or doing this process online already in a non-competing area that is willing to discuss share their model, please reach out. 

In either case, the credibility of the information is more likely to be valid - just about anyone can post just about anything online (and savvier/large companies may pay others to keep their online presence looking good).

Is there a resident portal or third party site for online payments or maintenance requests?

I've not been able to find anything online about other groups doing a similar project if they weren't financing themselves 100%.