GRANITE HANDS DOWN.Concrete gives you the same color throughout,which granite can't.But granite is natural and you cant scratch or burn and you dont really need to seal every year.

And the part that really burns me is they make you go through all this wasted time on the phone "triaging" the problem when they are already aware of the issues.

My house burned down, I need money to fix it.

Yeah, many are after that 10/15% interest but what if the house burns down during the one year of redemption and the homeowner has no insurance?

If you are just driving by daily to make sure I haven't burn down your house, I tend to think this is a bit much. 

Folks who really want the place fill out the application on the spot, I collect their fee (cash only, been burned on this) and note the date and time on the application.

This is where most novice investors get burned.

Landlords generally get burned when they turn their business into a charity by giving  questionable applicants a "chance" but it is your investment not ours.

I only plan to use a small amount of it, the rest has to stay because what if all your tenenat move out, what if half the building burns down?

A lot of sellers are burned-out landlords who like the idea of "passive income"/mailbox money after years of chasing late rent payments, dealing with tenant BS and maintaining the property (I use quotes for "passive income" b/c no income is truly passive IMO, a wise seller will still pay attention to what's happening with the property in case they need to take it back, but collecting payments like a bank is generally easier than collecting them like a landlord, you can set up ACH with the buyer's bank or hire a loan processing company to handle it).