Five days into her stay we get automated notifications from VRBO that the payment had been reversed and they took the money out of our account.

Paul really knows his stuff, and he makes real estate investing a science, which is to say he puts a repeatable system into place to "automate" his investing.I really enjoyed this one!

Do not rely on automated valuations for quite a number of reasons, not the least of which that the valuation algorithms can't "see" inside pictures for the condition of the house. 

I live in the bay area and will be investing out of state (OOS), I know by reading in the forum that Midwest is the place to go, I originally planned to go to Indianapolis however the multi family houses that I encountered are on the older side as such will have a higher cost of maintenance, the realtor I am working with setup my automated search in the 46201, 203, 205 ranging in the $120 - 190K range. 

I did receive an automated phone call from a local inspector to come and take them down after a period but once i did and alerted them to that they stopped calling me.

Edit: Shoot, can't believe I didn't think to add this as it fits my interests, but I think the Smart Home/Automation trend is really cool and hope to be able to get more involved with that.

From fully automated Kiosks (an ATM looking thing that rents the unit, sets up auto billing on tenants bank or credit card, dispenses a lock if the new tenant wants to buy one etc), to smart phone Apps that do the same thing (except vend a lock) to 24 hour USA based call centers that will manage the business and rent the units for those customers who want a human to talk to (and the Kiosk software, smarphone App software, and call center sofware can all be seemlessly integrated within your business management software.

I offered to help remove trash recycles compresser cardboard remove left over items from refrigerator and pantry.She never returned so I hired a friend w truck to take to town dump.I drive a suburu and didn't have space to haul garbage.I had to repair split on inside of front door punch hole in hallway that was taped over.1 cat turned into4 so I had to wipe white silkey hair out of floor ventsalso vacume litter clean out garage refrigrater wipe and remove leftover stuff in drawers.Me rental had to set off 5 bugs bombs before she could sleep in home.I was quoted$800 for assurant pest controll to travel to sheltercove.I live in a rural area by the coast.I am ordering natural pest controll products and will hire a friend to spray.Northern calif doesn't have roaches so last tenants brought in.Last tenants are threatening me w lawyer if I don't return full deposit1800.I silent 15 hours doing repairs due to damage.I also had new tenants internet installer remove part from dish to mail to last tenants.Previous female tenant said they had that set up but new tenants have dogs in back yard.Also No one contacted me from previous renters about scheduling part removal.So as a courtesy I will mail back to Vegas and keep receipt.I am getting threatening texts demanding full deposit.Also they say I owe back rent from Sept 10 to Oct 1 but they didn't return to get what was left for me to deal with.I am cleaning vacation rentals and am still getting a list of damages.I'm ordering natural German cockroachkit online will arrive 2 days shipping cost 29 plus products gonna run another100.

Maybe you will find my new website in a search for DOWN PAYMENT ASSISTANCE FREE HELP in google IF I get the system automated.

However, I've found that by regularly checking Zillow, I can find relevant listings about as well as those automated searches.I've heard that agents can see information in MLS that ordinary mortals can't, and that this information can be valuable.