They bring me additional deals that I can sell to my investor clients, and I can scout opportunities for myself as well. 

All great ideas....The only additional piece of information,  is that Florida is a legislative state and everything here takes a long time to run through the process of short sale or foreclose.My goals is find a way to help these people save what is left of their credit and make a sale.   

There is very little correlation with home appreciation, rental rate increases and whether the numbers make sense or not as a rental.Ultimately, there are too many additional factors that play a part as to whether something is a deal as a rental or not.

I offer 10% interest only payments for a 6 month to year loan term, at the end of the loan I pay the principle back and give him an additional 5 % of his principle.

Keep researching, and always consider your own circumstances and needs in addition to the advice others give.

I've tried to have an additional electric meter installed but power company won't install one unless I have a second address (911 address) assigned to it, which the city won't let me do.

However I feel if I'm going to pay someone to tell me who to talk to or what to do and pay additional fees on top of whatever I'm paying, I might as well just talk to the pro from the get go.

It adds additional cost and requires some time, but it can be done. 

Many landlords require renters insurance, and that they either be added to the policy or be additional interest, for the purposes of being notified when it is canceled. 

He lets me know that he put in an additional sump pump on the other end of the basement, replaced the gas valves in the boiler and water heaters, is having the mold taken care of, and has fixed a few other odds and ends.