But its hard to recognize a good deal.

Never trust the "reference" names or HR phone numbers provided, find your way to those "through the front door".It is good you recognize that all adults need to submit applications, and sign the Rental Agreement and other docs.

It is however important to recognize that new construction does not pencil in most asset classes or most markets right now.

More importantly after seeing a bunch of deals that didn't work, it helped us recognize a good property when we saw it and act quickly with an offer.  

The number of participants has exploded, and the barrier to calling oneself a “syndicator” is now extremely low.A few thousand dollars spent on education and a small amount of capital lent to someone else’s deal can quickly be turned into professional websites, pitch decks, and online marketing materials that suggest ownership of hundreds or even thousands of apartment units.

That said, based on my experience working with real estate bookkeeping clients and using AI tools internally, AI still has meaningful limitations.AI is good at recognizing patterns, but bookkeeping—especially for real estate—is full of nuance: distinguishing repairs vs. improvements, properly handling owner contributions and distributions, allocating expenses across properties, class tracking, loan activity, depreciation-related items, and state-specific considerations.

The IRS recognizes 6 methods for conducting a cost segregation analysis. 

I've been in business for almost 8 months and completed 6 flips, so I know enough to recognize when I'm being shafted.  

Now, if I don't recognize a phone number, I simply let the call goes to voicemail.

I think at some point you have to recognize you had a good run and take your chips off the table.