I just had a property turn over and followed this procedure for the showings:I advertise the property and handle all calls, emails, texts on it and set up viewing appointments (I group them all within 30-45 minutes on one day)The current tenants show the property to prospective rentersWhen someone applies, they email or fax in the application and pay the application fee via PayPal (although I am now trying out Cozy for applications) and I process the applicationIf the application passes, I prepare and email over the lease for signatureWhen the lease is signed and sent back to me, I send over a payment request for the first month's rent (via Dwolla or Cozy)At the check-in, I drive to the property to check them in myself and collect the security deposit in secured funds (or use Cozy to collect it beforehand)I have been doing the above for a long time and it has worked pretty well.

location, amenities etc. that would make it worth more.

In any case, I put an offer in on a condo following the rule of buying 20% below FMV, and it was countered but still not even close to where I needed it to be for it to work.I researched about 25 properties viewed 4 and put an offer on 1 and it didn't work out.

Its not worth wasting everyones time to put something into writing.

I think paying them is worth it if this is the case.

Because a verbal acceptance is not actually a thing, there was nothing worth rushing to convey to you and nothing that you could have done differently.

In my opinion, the BP books they have published are well worth their cost, so are the podcasts which are free. 

An LLC adds complexity and cost that may not worth it.

Imagine if your parents owned a property that was worth $500k and someone convinced them to sell it for $300k, how would that make you feel?  

There's no hype, no pressure, I don't do presentations where I print out all the low comps and try to tell them "Your house is only worth $X" In addition, I wholesale deals where my profit is less than a 3% commission.