Even if you self manage it, you want to ensure it is cash flowing upon exit.In regards to an agent, I would look for an investor focused agent on BP.

A set of items you do to ensure the property is rent ready?

More importantly is to ensure you have more capital than you think you need.

. - Have a strong contract: contingencies are critical in wholesaling, you want to ensure that you have an 'out clause' if the deal no longer makes sense after further due diligence. - It's all about speed: You do not want to wait too long to take action on getting this under contract, there are plenty of ibuyers, out of state investors, local investors etc. that would jump on this quickly. - Dont rely on one deal: Probably the most important tip is to always keep multiple potential deals in your pipeline, don't put all of your hopes into one deal because if it doesn't work out you'll be back to square one.

Even though they are the expert, you still need to ensure they are a good fit for you.

There's a lot of ways to ensure your family's privacy and security while providing the tenant with the same. 

It seems like commercial deals are for the more advanced professional players and companies that specialize in that arena specifically.

One piece of advice I would give would be to ensure you have enough in cash to cover one third of the purchase price.

Before accepting my offer of $1.6M, the listing agent wanted to walk through my home to ensure that it was desirable and ready to list.

Appraisals are important for a number of reason, not least of which because they ensure that the investors knows the value of what they are buying - at least on paper (see my comment above about 'expected' equity on properties with no real resale value).