In March 2018 I paid the required minimum of $800  fee to Franchise tax Board for the year 2018.

I am a very conservative investor, and have seen firsthand how many shortcuts can be taken on the process, if a turnkey operator wanted to, and would not be caught for years or more by the investor.

The borrower and the asset itself.Borrower:Your credit (are you a trustworthy borrower), are you capitalized enough to float this project/ cover the debt, track record (borrower/ contractors experience).Asset:Comps (as-is & ARV), LTV metrics (lender can help verify these if you have questions), detailed budget and scope of work, tentative schedule, exit strategy.Of course any lender/ partner will dive in a little deeper after the initial pitch but if you have all of the above ready for your initial conversation it will go a long way in getting deals approved/ partners on board.

Also a firm understanding about finance and the nature of money in general is key. 

I’ve found Investing in Real Estate 7th Edition and What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cashflow and 36 Key Financial Measures to help me understand the concepts of analysis by leaps and bounds.

@Joe Senchuk You mentioned cash for keys.

Basically what I'm imagining is the Marketplace Properties for Sale page here on BP but instead of just forum posts with all the details in text content and images, a database with all of the fields searchable, and then you could do things like apply the BP calculators against the numbers on the properties so you could easily pull up and compare key metrics like cap rate, COC return, etc.

The location is one key variable that attracts the tenant. 

Shaun Alexander I would pluck out those trades from his contract to an addendum, you obviously don’t know contracts, talk to your license board and see what your options are on suing if he doesn’t comply.

Are you looking to buy rental properties that need work or something more  turn key?