Know your resale value before you step into any purchase and make sure it will cover your expenses - including realtor fees, property transfer taxes, etc if you'll be selling it in a year or two - and then include the profit you intend to make too.I'd also encourage you to research mortgages from an investor's point of view. 

Let me work out something direct, and I’ll pay a % of the deal as a finders fee.

You can also try to negotiate one or two extension options in the loan (you will typcially have to pay an extension fee and meet certain requirements to be able to exercise the option)

Most of them don't charge a yearly fee.

@Andrew Caldieraro I would find a PM and Attorney first so you can underwrite the PM fees more accurately.  

I have heard of companies that want to post signs and they go to a landowner and ask if they can pay them a small monthly fee to post on their property.

For those of you who own properties in HOA's, has anyone had experience with a "lease maintenance fee" imposed by the HOA?  

Possibly, if they only take their fee out of shared profits of your deal.

Things are so competitive with high realtor fees and most homes selling for 10-20% over asking.

Now that I've got someone to screen, the landlord's process is to submit their rental application to a third-party screening service (applicant pays me the $30 fee to pass onto them), and if they're approved, the landlord informally OKs it without signing a lease or accepting rent payments from the new tenants.