Samuel,In my mind it boils down to the level of service that you expect from whoever you bring in.

I also have personal accounts through USAA (great service, no fees) and Capital One 360 (great rates).We ended up using Farmers and Merchants Bank.

All parties were aware of that, meaning they knew I was the buyer and buyer agent who would be paid for my services as the agent.

Proforma upside are not usually easy to get as most tenants have been in place for a LONG time and can't afford the current market rate. 

I think I could be of service to you.

The Search: My criteria was very simple, East Portland / Gresham, 3 bedroom house with a basement that had a separate entry which I could turn into a rental, at a price I could afford.

If you can't comfortably afford to make the payment yourself, I wouldn't rent to them.I don't want to seem cold or callous because if my parents were alive I would do anything for them.

Flipping houses and owning a painting business can actually complement each other very well, in terms of cross-selling services, developing connections, and new opportunities among other things.I guess my point is, before leaving an existing venture, make sure you have formally done your diligence via a business model, business plan, marketing strategy, etc.  

This is a good place to start as they have the more experienced staff there and you don't have to have such a defined idea of what you want.They will look up these tools amongst other things (these tools are awesome btw):http://zimas.lacity.org/http://navigatela.lacity.org/navigatela/There you'll get a load of information from zoning to issues related to the property to details of the property to services in the area, whether it's a landslide zone, hydrants, sewer, RSO, Ellis Act and much more.

Once you become advanced you can reach out to services like Podio, but this seems to be a good starting area!