You are paying money thinking it will bring you business, when in reality it's just bringing you a bunch of contacts that aren't serious.Build relationships.

One thing I've noticed is that of all the things needed to start out, money is definitely high on the list. 

Phenomenal CoC returns, recycle your money, ability to scale, etc. 

Pick deals based on how much money they'll bring in, where they are, and how many people want to rent there.

Depending on other factors (credit score, property location, etc) you can look into the hard money route.

Theres two concerns here, time and money. 

This is not the same as a conventional loan where estimates are many pages, sent before day three, resent when you lock, and again before closing to protect a consumer who probably only does a mortgage loan a couple times in their life.Hard money and business purpose loans send an email term sheet which generally tells you the rate and points which can change after the appraisal and details become real. 

Some of the guru's talk and talk about no money down, yadda yadda, but that's just not the norm from what I've seen. 

Businesses that only charge, say, 8-10% on rent and that don't charge ancillary or per-occasion fees are not making any money on the landlord's property, unless of course they are not hiring any staff to provide full service, in which case, I would stay clear. 

I have seen money pass and wasted that could have been growing right now.