The final step has a platform for a person to lay on to stick the plants in the holes.  

There are lots of platforms for rentals, it just depends on whether or not you're looking for paid or free marketing.

If you assume you'll never have these big, unpredictable expenses you'll be in trouble if they to happen.In general I think investing is like gambling. 

I'm a real estate investor and recent co-founder of a 'private' real estate platform called HomeCanvasr.com.

If the property has zero equity, likely due to some senior lien holder like a mortgage, then putting the repairs into the property to only receive say $1,000 in rent each month is a pretty high gamble.  

Beyond these ethical considerations, in virtually every jurisdiction an auctioneer (or auction platform) is prohibited by law from knowingly receiving a bid on the seller's behalf or permitting the seller to make or procure such a bid unless notice has been given that liberty for such bidding has been reserved.

And the cost of making that gamble is much different also.

Maybe you should look into CINC (commissions inc), this is an online platform that gets leads for you using PPC and setups you with with your own website/CRM.

@Mark Boegemann - You can listen via http://www.biggerpockets.com/show1I don't have any issue listening via the many platforms out there -- just tested it out.

It is a gamble but putting 5k in the bank a year adds up quick and easly covers new roof etc.