My focus is seller financed performing notes so I can learn the business first with lower risk investments.

A lot of the gas lines in those old homes are 1/2" but I find you can get away with a 3/4" adapter and 3/4" hose from the valve to the heater - no cold spots, just consistent hot water PM me and I'll hook you up with my contacts.

There are too many variables to give a one-size fits all answer.Personally, I would put $1M into commercial syndications (money backed by a hard asset that historically performs well in market turmoil) and diversify the remaining $1M across notes, NNNs, SFHs and some S&P 500 index funds.

I'm also extremely skeptical if they aren't interested in me and my performance/experience or the deal, but focused primarily on receiving their upfront fee.

It will allow you to see what types of properties work for you and what neighborhoods within your market are better performing than others.

I just looked it up.It is a performance gauge, but it leaves out expenses. 

If they don't, they're not paying enough attention to the metrics that help them improve performance, which is a bad sign.I know I mentioned this before, and some folks will disagree with me on this, but I advise most investors (and new ones especially) to stick to B/B+ properties and areas.

Consistently paying late and not communicating would be unacceptable for our terms.

Your market is pretty consistently expensive ;) so you may have better luck.

If this isn't something they offer it's a great add on service that is relatively straightforward, although time consuming, to learn and perform.