Managing a rental from another state withut a PM?

[Jeff J.]

I manage two 11 unit apartment buildings myself but we are planning to move to Florida (from Minnesota!) in a few years. I would hate to hire a PM company to manage my properties. Is is possible (have others done it??) to manage my properties from another state? For example, could I hire a cleaning service and perhaps a maintenance man (who could show the vacant apartments)? I could screen tenants and set up service remotely. I could fly back a few times a year to check up or handle an emergency. Has anyone done this successfully? How did you do it?

Would some variation of Karpinski's "How to rent vacation properties by owner" work for a normal long term rental property?

My tentative plan would be the following:

1. caretaker would be "eyes and ears" and clean building, mow and shovel

2. caretaker would show vacant apartments and would fax/scan applications to me and I would screen. Caretaker has tenant sign lease and does checklist.

3. Caretaker would evaluate vacant apartment and let me know what needs to be fixed/cleaned. Send video of apartment to me.

4. Caretaker would inform me of any repair/maintenance needs and I would call service contractors.

5. rents would be mailed or deposited into my bank account.

6. caretaker is vital to this process so compensation would be ? Free apartment + ???

Any problems with this approach?

Thanks
Jeff