Then go to your states dept. of employment and check out some of the WC and employment laws that surround managing sub-contractor’s many fail to understand.

In our market alone(Central FL) There are about ten major wholesale companies actively doing business.Each one of those companies employs 8-10 people that sit all day and submit contracts, tune the tune of 10 a day.

In addition, I do not think higher rents are sustainable over time while SFR prices continue to decline.Average household size may increase for a while, but as employment improves people will want to venture out on their own.

If banks are too stupid to employ real loan officers instead of robotic order takers that send stuff up in the sky to a magical underwriter I can't communicate with they aren't worth wasting my time on.

Does liberating yourself from employers mean eventually quitting your job?

The best tool in there is their direct link to social media.More costly but worth it:We have access to a service called tracers that, for .50 per pull, gets us some of the most up to date info on anyone out there.We also employ a couple of private eyes that are somewhat entrepreneurial that will not only locate the owner but set up the appt for between 500-1000 per closed transaction.These are a few of the tools we use to locate our sellers...

Personally, I believe the tech bubble will burst which will deeply effect the Bay Area economy in employment,housing inventory, and multiple other factors. 

But also make sure to make your own phone calls as well, at least to their employer and past landlords.

CA has too many taxes, 15.15% for employer taxes, plus 45% workers comp for carpenters, I'm not even touching the profit and contingency yet.

You need them to sign an authorization to check employment, rental history, and credit/criminal report...in most states.