@Marcus Auerbach and @Joe VilleneuveWe have clients who have substantially grown their retirement savings both in notes and in real estate. 

Ultimately we've cut it out of our marketing budget.

Is there no longer a Pro Perk to save $5 with SmartMove tenant screening?

I purchase all the material myself using my card and save a minimum of 5% and the contractors like not having to do anything but go there and pick it up.  

Now the hard part, figuring out if i want to use that to snipe a great deal on our first property, attempt multiple properties at once, or save more and attempt to stay local in SoCal.

Things I will mention to the seller: -Having no realtor(s) involved will save him 6%.

It is not a waste of money, it WILL SAVE YOU THOUSANDS by helping you to avoid a bad deal!

I don't have a lot of money saved up and I currently have poor credit 580-600, but I'm interested and dedicating myself to taking the first steps of financial independence by learning the ins and outs of the real estate industry.

You can perhaps add the business as a cosigner if needed, but ultimately you want the family on the lease because they are living there and if the employee gets fired, they are the ones responsible for rent. it is irrelevant to you who the rent comes from. if it was a company renting so they can put up different contractors they have to fly in and different people will be living there at different times, that would be a different setup.

Wondering what the best solution might be..Prop 1:  Bought 2011, FHA 3.5% w/ PMI; MV ~185k; Loan Bal 92k; HELOC 36k @ 5% floating off Prime (drawn to pay for down pmt on other property); Rental (performing)Prop 2: Bought 2014, FNCL 3.875% w/ PMI; MV ~ 260k; Loan Bal 173k; Rental (performing)Prop 3: Bought 2018, FNCL 4.625% w/ PMI; MV ~440k; Loan Bal 356k; Owner Occ / Primary - Saving the detail, to get the deal I had to put up more down payment than I would have liked to...