Mgmt. company vs. own screening

[Kenneth LaVoie]

I'm curious if anyone has opinions on whether it's better to use local people, like maybe a private investigator for tenant screening?? Or are the online services complete and trustable?

I bought my first SFR and had a property mgmt. company fill the lease, but it cost me a full month's rent -- a pittance if he got me a much better tenant than I would've gotten by my own efforts, but it's hard to say -- I'm closing on my second and thought I'd give it a try myself.

My situation is that in the the warm months, I can make $60-$70 per hour in my lawn care company, so with the lost "$$$ opportunity" it might behoove me to use the property mgmt. company in the warm months and screen myself in the winter when my work load is light.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!
Ken