And I take it from your post that's exactly what you do.The Caveat though is I followed my partners remodel and I built a brand new custom 4k sq foot home top of the line wolf sub zero etc etc for what he paid to remodel his Rancher he paid 1.5 million for as is. 

Find a distressed Chase Bank...buy it...fix it up and landlord it.....receive all money coming in from customers but don't pay any thing out if they decide they want to make withdrawals from their own accounts.  

Tiled out walk in showers, huge custom walk in closet, kitchen backsplashes, and a lot more. 

Pair quality work with quality and personal customer experience and you have a recipe for success.

Also involved in a personal residence you would make different choices on how much to invest into things like fixtures, flooring, paint color/quality etc etc etc vs what you would choose for a rental which most often are less expensive materials and really not custom in any manner shape or form, so your "home" for a couple years might have all kinds of more expensive inputs and then end up as a rental unit later which may or may not be a good use of money after all.

The podcasts are particularly popular. 

Those who focus on their product find lots of customers wanting it.

They did recommend a few alternatives that provide similar services, including: Renttrack.comClearnow.comPayyourrent.comRentpayment.comOther alternatives are discussed here.I have been using Williampaid for more than 1 year and have been a happy customer.

How laws, regulations and rules are interpreted will be whats normal or custom in that jurisdiction. 

Homesearch is one of the larger popular auction sites for REO's.