Residing in the same home along with several tenants changes the dynamic quite a bit so it tends to stray away from points discussed within the essay. 

The REA is the most important because if you find the right investor-friendly agent, they tend to have the Team already built.

@Benjamin CarverA good agent should be able to put you in touch with a good lender, contractor, and inspector they know of from other agents, or have worked with in the past.If you want to find a knowledgeable agent, go to REI meetups and network with other investors and they can also give you referrals on finding such individuals.

I know these types of things tend to vary by market, so wanted to better understand how this typically works in Raleigh/Durham.- Is it common for brokers to require exclusive buyer agreements (ie you promise to only work with them in the particular market) or do you go exclusive after a specific property is identified?

I only buy 2bd 2ba units as they tend to attract more long term tenants.

They also tend to be extremely selfish and so don't love anyone who doesn't bring THEM a sufficient measure of pleasure.Kids have to be taught to be good.

The awesome thing about a lot of these tech-front-end companies that handle a lot of stuff for you on the back-end is that they tend to be out-of-touch in their local markets in terms of pricing and vendors. 

Let me know if you are looking for referrals.

As such it tends be for very large portfolios.RentManager is a bit legacy in its approach even though it is cloud based.

Getting started is the hardest part, but once you have momentum the progression tends to be exponential!