By the time you go through the list and check out the properties yourself to narrow that list that leaves VERY little time to get title searches complete.

If your agent can not access them, PM me and I can check with the company to see who are CA agents for the program.  

Check out my biggerpockets post here for more information! 

If they do not check in in the first 24 hrs and we do not know why I like to cancel their booking (their expense) and get it back on the booking sites as available asap.  

If you think about AirBnB, it essentially acts as an escrow - a guest may book months in advanced and pay at booking, but the funds are not released to you until after check in.I would love landlords perspective from this community on if you would be open to using a trustworthy third party tool that offered this same service (ie. tenants pay whatever your deposit is to this escrow account, then 24 hours after check in it is sent to you).

Maybe the five of you all agree to cut a check for your 20% share.  

How do you let the applicant know that despite paying for the credit and background check them may not be choosen without making it seem like it is a personal thing?

If you want to be stacking checks then you would want to lean into fix and flip or wholesale.

I'm not familiar with that specific term, but if you are looking for information on foreclosures, check out something like dealmachine.

Conventional tends to be better in rates, but it's good to check as this is not always the case depending on your qualifications.