@Ben Roberts,Although I am not sure exactly what steps you should take, what I would suggest is closing the deal with as few steps for your customer as possible.  

I wouldn't make money off of this, but it creates value to the students and increases my brand loyalty.  

Since the same company did this to me twice in one week I'm guessing that that is their policy--advertise 24/7, send the on call guy out, tell customer parts are needed and will return at a reasonable hour to fix--don't give a s**t about the fact that they are leaving customers without water.

Especially when one month, their rules will have the dial set higher for investment then the next month new customers might get the dial set lower BECAUSE it's for investment.

But then I called the homepath customer support a few days later and they said as long as the listing is still open on the website (which it is) you can place an offer.

Or is it better to take something flexible, like excel, which can be customized and grow with changing needs? 

A property management company will want to see that you have experience in customer service and relationships.

The sites lend a bit of credibility to some of my marketing and allow me to have a custom domain in my email instead of "memphishomebuyers at gmail".  

Do not expect buyers to come calling if you can't beat the MLS.Every business has to deal with customer acquisition expense.  

I think any home warranty customer will say it sucks in some way.You really have to assess your property history and bet if anything is likely to break.