How hard is it to do a long distance fixer upper?

[Nancy Wang]

Hi BP,

My turnkey long distance investment in Memphis TN went okay until the tenant stopped paying her rent last August.

The PM evicted the tenant last December (several months of non payment). I had to pay $5500 rehab fee to make it marketable right after tenant was evicted last December.

Then in January the house was destroyed by a squatter (PM told me so). The PM was not helping much in getting my insurance nor did anything to prevent the house from further damage. It was just left rotten. So I have canceled the agreement with the PM.

We are thinking to do a rehab and sell it ourselves. But we are in Boston and have never done a long distance repairs before.

Have you ever done it? What do you suggest on finding a good local contractor? How do I manage the contractor long distance? 

The houses in the neighborhood goes for $50k-$60k. 

Thanks