Yes, servicing is a cost of business and effects the ROI, the discounts I usually work at, $15.00 won't break my return.......it's all relevant.But, if you collect on a small note, I suggest you let an attorney tackle notices of default or hints to modifications......if all goes well you should have no issue.While you can hold a note long term, I'd rather see them pay it off as quickly as possible which increases your ROI and gets you ready for the next deal with money in hand.

My ultimate "wants" are big and at times do not even seem realistic so I just focus on doing all I can now and hope the snowball effect is bigger than I can imagine. 

I'm a little unsure about how this system works, and of course, being cheap/frugal/ whatever, I hate to waste money.  

So, if you are serious pay it, if not or if it's not a good deal don't waste your money.If I were a seller in a hurry to sell and it was costing me $XXX per day while someone had it tied up while they shopped a buyer I would want assurances they were going to close and  one way is by having a nonrefundable fee. 

Don't waste your time on a dead end when you could be focusing on the next opportunity.  

Then almost certainly a complete waste of time.  

Property is vacant and needs work, not sure how much because I am not going to waste time visiting the property until I get a signed contract back from them, which should be in the next few days.  

I know I should meet with local people but I'd like to get my level one research straight before I waste someone's time doing Level 2 research. 

Advice needed on how to go about the process more effectively. 

Sending out 1 round of mailers, in my opinion, is likely going to be a waste of money because you yield the best results when sending multiple touches to a prospect.