In the end, there's no use preemptively investing in systems, multiples of tools, employees, workers comp and all the overhead to take your business to people who will low-ball you or haggle or just want a guy who has a license who picked up a day laborer/helper to get it done quickly and satisfactorily.

BP's calculators are a great tool for this.

Cap rate is mostly a tool that hands off investors use to compare different opportunities. 

A lot of forum members are very knowledgeable in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate sales, wholesaling, flipping, rentals, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.Discounts on some products and services are offered to BP members: https://www.biggerpockets.com/perks/proIf you haven’t been to it already, you might want to check out the BP blog: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/The site has quite a few tools that can be helpful for new members.

If you find a fixer upper that is going to be too much trouble with conventional financing or a seller really motivated by cash offer that would be the tool to reach for, otherwise use your other tool in your belt but making sure to keep whatever tool you end up using updated in your analysis and pro-forma. 

@Beata Williams statistically your brokerage has little to do with why a client chooses to wrk with you.Your brokerage should provide you with all the tools and training you need and at the best split/cap.

@Johnny Nunez Lake Elsinore is not the most popular spot in California, but with the proper property manager you may get some cash flow out of it. 

Hello - Does anyone have more advanced tools as landlords to run rent-to-own scenarios with prospective tenants?

I put it through the calculator and appears that it is not, however, I am not sure I have answered all the questions from the tool correctly.

The jump and build your parachute on the way down approach forces you to learn and learn fast but before you jump make sure you have the tool sand the knowledge to build the parachute waiting for a good deal will cost you some time but buying a bad one will cost much more.