This is a great place to learn and to meet people so take advantage of all the great resources.Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: https://www.biggerpockets.com/search/usersI hope BP helps you achieve your goals!

Just don't become a motivated buyer. 

Reasonable rental increases may be in the best interest of the tenant, as they will be motivated to keep their budget current with the market and thus less likely to get stuck in a non-ideal situation. 

The family loan had a slightly higher interest than the bank loan in order to motivate me to pay it off.

Lists do not give you motivated sellers.You are filtering your list based on criteria that have NOTHING to do with motivation. you are simply relying on luck sending mailers out based on a list.

I just don't know if hiring this out if I'll still be able to achieve a reasonable ROI. 

I would love to connect to some members of this community and hear a little more about their stories and use it as motivation to help me get where it is that I desire to go and find my path for success. 

The programs that allow a lower downpayment of 3-5% are going to require that the property be owner occupied for one year, and would also require PMI until 20% equity is achieved (conventional) or for the life of the loan (FHA).

If someone offers 30k over asking, but a similar property down the street sold for 10k over list, this will provide a better insight and awareness of a buyer's true motivation/intentions.

Banks have little motivation to get more reasonable fees.