Lot's of retail tenants are going to robots and automation software that can greatly reduce costs.

@Scott Mac startup idea to automate data collection and aggregation and put it out as an interactive map :) Thanks for sharing your approach.

However, I do believe that in today's world where we are surrounded by technology, there are surely tools that could help you automate tasks when possible.

Coachmatix is a website platform with built in CRM integration and decent automation for the price.

As the podcast may have mentioned, it is a tool is best suited for small DIY landlords (and their teams) to keep track of things like rent payments + leases, but it also offers several other tools as well (ie. listing the property to 10+ major listing sites; a scheduler to schedule showings at the property with prospective tenants; comprehensive tenant screening options with reports pulled directly from TransUnion; the ability for tenants to boost their credit score up to 40+ points for on-time rent payments with our CreditBoost feature; and maintenance ticket tracking with automated messaging).

The time required to self-manage the property using services like Airbnb, Airbnb Smart Pricing, and SmartBNB automated messaging is less than 30 minutes per week even in peak season. 

Real estate isn't a financial instrument, it's a physical investment.

@David M.Discounted notes and debt are other viable investment options.They however are not generally referred to as “risk free”.Risk free generally refers to instruments insured or back by the full faith and desist of the US Federal Govt. 

The phone number goes to an automated message for Behavioral Health Services, or something along those lines.

The better the class, the easier to manage and the less detail work required.We'd NEVER trust Zillow or any other automated system to screen applicants for Class C properties!