@Kirk ZachardaI'm rather new to RE investing so take my advice with a grain of salt but I think the #1 thing to focus on is knowing your market backwards and forwards.

Though, what I say has a grain of salt with it, since it's also rooming house-style properties.

The tilting floors are a give away.I know that you don't want to be to the northeast of a cranberry bog as pesticides sprayed by helicopter are carried by the prevailing southwest winds.It's that level of detail that automation just won't be able to replace.I agree that the old school style of brokerage with the big office with plate glass windows on Main St might want to re-think things. 

I have an exposed exterior porch, while we shovel and salt.

Take this all with a grain of salt but I guess this is how I have handled my agent relationships.

I would take their advice with a grain of salt.

Or talk with the sellers of the properties, take what they say with a grain of salt and add 25-50% to what they say their expenses are.

Also check out the Salt Lake Real Estate Investor Association (http://slreia.com/).  

I'm not a wholesaling expert so take this with a grain of salt, though I would think mailing to a zip code with high cash sales probably would mean that that area is pretty saturated with other wholesalers/ investors as well, so I imagine competition via that strategy may be pretty tough.  

That agent has a fiduciary obligation to the SELLER, which puts them in direct opposition to your interests.While no licensed agent should ever misrepresent anything, you should be taking everything he tells you with a large dose of salt.