What companies have the best lists or direct mail services and why?

Get some listing from Marcus and Milichap or CBRE, for example.National Apartment Association is a good source of aggregate data. 

I received a lead from one of my listings.

Hello,You should be able to list it on the market in 3 to 4 months.. anything more than that means you have over 100k invested in the rehab which meand you are looking at above average returns or this is the first time you are doing this.Again, you have given absllutely no idea about what kind of rehab are you doing?

What I have noticed in a larger than normal number of property tax foreclosures listed.

Plus I would find my buyers and get their shopping list then find the sellers. 

As a realtor, I look daily at all of the potential deals in my market from REO's, NOD's, Short Sales etc..to the 40 unit Multifamily listings available.

Researching markets, fostering relationships with brokers, finding and vetting deals, obtaining experience, raising capital, arranging bank funding, vetting management companies...the list goes on...is hard work; so, the deal structure is set up so that the sponsor gets compensated for that work with a 70/30 split rather than proportional.  

I think if you could easily pay that extra bill during the process of the flip (Research, closing, renovating, and listing), then I say go for it.

The only problems I've seen folks have is when there are 17 other rentals in their neighborhood all listed at the same time.