Quality people attract and keep quality people.

Are you better served on a highly competitive offering with dual agency and dealing with the seller's broker directly? 

Im in NJ, but not sure it's the right market for me due to very high taxes and cost of houses. 

Seems like short term would likely generate more revenue but not really sure about profit when you consider vacancy and property management fees of ~30% (I would consider remote management but I would think cleaning fees would still be ~$400/mo. which is high).

The area enjoys a favorable cost of living (#1 Most Affordable Places to Live in US) and quality of life.

The reason I stopped building new spec houses is because the market and the high interest rates.

I'll pay the lowest fee for a single house to not be committed in areas where I just can't identify a really, truly quality agent.

The problem I find is I don't like putting in that much time doing research and field inspections (300-400 properties per week are auctioned) for such low odds that the property will sell at a price I need it to.....either the plaintiff will have a really high max bid set (like the full judgement amount) or another 3rd party bidder will bid it up more than it's worth.  

They should be doing at least 2-4 full remodels on their own per year on the high end.

I would highly recommend you look at Tampa.