I wounder if there is any data out there that highlights GIs in negative cash flow situations.

@John N Gietzen the primary things you want to look at with list providers is 1) the variety of criteria available (equity, value, vacancy, owner occ, etc), 2) the timeliness and accuracy in YOUR AREA (this is why there is no point in asking anyone which is best unless they are also in your area), 3) what data is included in your list - just a name and address, or complete details on property, phone numbers, transaction history, equity, etc. 4) user interface - you are more likely to use a tool YOU like, and 5) price.

Investors are very bullish on retail in fact latest quarter data is retail sales are up about 6% across the board.Of course you have businesses that did not update in time,their concept is no longer functional in the marketplace, they haven't (right sized) their box requirements to maximize sales per sq ft compared to rent rate, etc.

People are more likely to dig into something and estimate costs for you (to get your some data points) when you have a specific situation/project and possible solution proposed.Other advice would be to see places and get used to walking around the Menards/Lowes/Home Depots of the world to more quickly be able to reference standard stuff like lumber, finish materials, windows, etc... 

I may source my leads from zillow, listsource, or the county records directly, and there may be overlap in that data where I have duplicate property addresses.2) I'm a little overwhelmed by the different outcomes for each lead.

@Tanya RandallHi Tanya as most have hinted at, be careful with 'rules of thumb' and drawing conclusions from anecdotal data points. 

These, along with basic tax and local comp data, are used for preiminary underwriting to determine an offer amount.Part of that underwriting is getting details from a lender (typically larger properties are leveraged with debt) on loan options.

I’m not sure how much detail people put into theirs but I do want mine to cover income, expenses, property purchases, how do I setup property management company data,etc...as much detail as I can get.

They should be WiFi meters and the meter company should be reading the data remotely

Before purchasing the property I purchased the data from AirDNA to get a sense of what a house, similar to the one we were buying, would do in terms of income per year.