Turnkey: market or provider?

[Dan Riley]

Hi BP, I'm new to REI and have been researching REI for the last 8-9 months. A recent BP Rookie podcast talked about buying turnkey properties. I'm curious to get some perspective from folks who've gone this route for their first investment (especially those going OOS). Did you identify a market first and then look for a quality TK provider or did you find a quality TK provider to then help you identify a market?

Some context if it's helpful:

I live in CA and my first investment will need to be OOS. I've found myself pinned with analysis paralysis as I've tried to identify a market that makes sense for a first purchase (my aim is buy and hold). As a first time investor going OOS and lacking experience with renovations/rehab, the process of figuring all of that out from afar is daunting and I feel like I'm never going to get comfortable with the prospect of doing that with my first REI. The prospect of TK seems to minimize some risks (I realize no investment is not without risk) but I want to get a better understanding of how other folks have approached this equation.

Much appreciated, BP!

Dan