It should be convenient and has a minimal distractions.  

I am pretty new to real estate, but find it much more convenient to have a real estate agent license, since it provides access to tons of information.

I was surprised when they told me that they have never done credit checks.

To my surprise the house was on his list of homes.  

A couple of caveats; 1) As this is an older property, it would not surprise me if the expense ratio was higher 2) Carrying cost are not included 3) Unless you have done this a few times before, renovation costs tend to inflate 4) Your time / effort is also not included.

If it's as good of a deal as your numbers suggest, I would be very surprised if it sits for long. 

It seems like you offering 150k but also telling them that you would be willing to go to 180k would just mean that, surprise, we got an offer for 178k. 

So convenient and a great time saver.

They'd rather take a week or two of vacancy to get an extra $100 - $200 month/rent on paper. 2) Sometimes there are surprises when tenants move their stuff out, and we don't necessarily want a new tenant moving in the next day.  

You pay for convenience, one way or another.