To buy in enough volume to support working with investors, you have to bid top dollar to get enough liens. 

I've dabbled in the new construction space here in Chicago and there is A LOT that goes into it...I'd highly suggest spending some 1:1 time networking with some other investors like @Jennie Berger or @Prashanth Mahakali who are both Chicago developersYou make your money with the land purchase and then systems/processes/volume over time in the development game, but it's not easy and competition is high!

it was a joke no need to meet in personI used to work in the City recently took a full time remote job so no more daily city trips for me I live on the jersey shore near Asbury park and sandy hook

Sorry to hear about your troubles but not uncommon.You will find recommendations in the group.As you can imagine, we keep our trusted contractors close to our chest as we give them volume and need them working for us.All the best 🙏

I'm going to start looking for a few meetups each week to go to and analyze properties daily..

A lot of investors I speak to on a daily basis say they're waiting for some sort of correction or the election.

You are NOT going to change their behavior.Charge the late fees, see if you can also charge a Daily Late Fee to discourage them waiting too long to pay.When is the lease up?

The amount of applications we receive on a daily basis I barely have time to sleep.

The last time I used subscription services to build lists and / or research properties, was at least 7-10 years ago. Much has changed I'd imagineAt that time- I found several services, like listsource, invaluable. But...

As for the late fee you have a cap so just make the late fee a set and not a daily amount in your next lease.