But before I start with that, I am thinking to be in partnership with some real estate agents or investors, like I will work with them like a virtual assistant but I don't want to be paid salary based.

Not only does it now run so slowly as to be virtually useless, it has lost the only advantage it had over Zillow and Trulia.  

Option 1 would be to do some of the work myself and hire out the skilled trades and maybe take the reno one unit at a time.

I'm the contractor and I'm hiring all my subcontractors.

Once they finish up law school and are making 85k in their first year, then they are comfortable buying a house because they know they can just hire a pro for any small job.

Finding & contacting the owner/s of a vacant property is kinda fun to do but , takes up a large share of my time & I feel that time could be used more profitably doing other tasks in my REI business.  I would ...

Hey all, I just listened to an older podcast (Not BP, it was actually Real Estate Investing Mastery) on wholesaling.Anyway, the interviewee mentioned hiring out a local Realtor to wholesale the properties using the MLS for a flat fee and I was wondering if anyone had experience with this and if so, how did it work?

Michael, since you're just starting out you may want to read virtual cover to virtual cover the "Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing".

Task Loops For Virtual Assistant or Staff to call.

Property Mgmt. could also be a very useful tool depending if you yourself will be managing the properties vs hiring an outside company.