This is where the relationship part of the process comes in to play. 

What I will say for lead generation is that these very much come down to building relationships as these folk in my experience don't respond super well to direct mail or cold calls. 

I'll comp their first few deals and give my feedback and my number (Or if I can buy it then I'll just put it under contract) and see how the relationship develops from there.

Agent/Property Managers don't walk away from the closing table and wave goodbye; we enter a relationship with that house and a longterm relationship with the owner.  

It pays to be consistent, stick to your word, and establish strong, honest relationships.

Another notable part of this is buyer has a great relationship with the local bank.

An assumption with both is that you want the relationship to continue indefinitely and you are already set in terms of wealth. 1) you are 100% self serving, while keeping the other partner incentivized to keep making you money. 2) the other partner is a personal/family relationship and you want to earn a return on your money and maybe keep some equity but, again you’ve made your wealth elsewhere and you just want to help them be successful.

Hey agents,Let's say I want to build a relationship with my real estate agent who I'd like to learn from because they are more advanced in real estate than me.

In that case, would you say it will be wiser to buy a smaller property that fits our budget than get into a restricted property like the 55+ communities?

In reality a lot of those bad news scenarios are avoidable if you have a good GC, a good relationship with them and bring them into the project as early as possible.