The house was less than a mile from a a big box supplier, which we thought would be convenient, but what I discovered is that the big box stores don't necessarily keep the volume of what you need on the shelf and the lead times for even simple things like lights and sinks can range from a few days to a few weeks.  

Shawn, find a BIG volume landlord in your area and ask him to refer you a portfolio lender.

(Letting each stage feed the next, but with enough volume to cherry pick best deals and sell of the remaining inventory.) 

Another few months lead time educating a buyer from the discovery period to the offer period.So can take 4 to 6 months from time they contact you but if you have a good pipeline the large checks give you years to decades of reserves.Right now transaction volume is high with low interest rates and sellers can sell at a cap that gives them a good equity gain.

For the better TK operators (i.e. ones who have real volume and real experience) I think there are two other important factors:1) Someone mentioned PM as a profit center which I don't think it really is (there are better ways to make a buck).

Our call volume and rents have dramatically increased this Spring over last year so I am not sure I see a slowdown yet.  

I believe it is the large volume of serious investors.

The seller's agent negotiated the 8% to offer good cap rates to her international buyers and volume to the managment co.

A larger PM company already has relationships with the contractors and is usually getting a discount due to volume. 

It's a "volume game" and not a one-z and two-z game.