As long as you have something that someone else values...it's an an asset for you to negotiate with.

Hi thereI just became a 1099 and I am not eligible for a loan for a while, regardless of my current assets in retirements funds.

I have an Asset Management Company, that manages Non Performing 2nds for investors.

We were set up for electronic pay with our management software, it worked great when we were managing our properties.

To qualify as an accredited investor, one of the ways is to show a $1M assets other than the primary residence. 

There are certain benefits of starting an LLC (legal protection of your assets, with a proper structure - some tax savings, etc.), but there are also costs and time required, so I would advice to start as a partnership, and form an LLC if you decide to keep doing it on a regular basis.

I would be interested to see if there's room for added value in finding an underperforming turnkey asset, reducing expenses, pushing rents, improving move-out damage collection, and collecting on other expenses incurred by residents such as utilities, waste-removal, pest control, etc.

I'd also suggest researching small commercial multifamily properties, 5 - 30 units, and learning the benefits of that asset class.

I didn't care for Rentometer and stopped using it but as  professional PM myself I use RentRange.com along with my PM software.

But given that rent collection is all electronic and they use software to manage, it seems 8% is steep.