Should I hire a project manager or trust the general contractor?

[Azita S.]

My local market is very expensive and out of my price range for investment, so I've been investing in other markets. I bought my first two investment properties in Phoenix AZ two years ago.  Both needed only minor work which the property manager took care of and everything went very smooth.

Last year I started looking into Milwaukee  WI market, made a visit in September, have made offers on foreclosure properties since late September and finally got a property in Shorewood under contract.  This will be my first rehab.  I've been listening to the Podcast and reading threads on BP, but still feel a bit nervous since I won't be on site to oversee the rehab and hope to find a mentor on BP or get advice on the forum to get my first rehab done.

My agent has recommended XX general contractors LLC stating that he's done a lot of high end rehabs for his clients and I googled the company and found city council minutes for licence renewal meetings both in 2012 and 2014 to find the real estate agent is listed as the agent for the XX general contractors LLC. He'd already told me he and his team do rehabs and rental management for out of state investors, but was not transparent about his involvement with XX general contractors LLC which makes me not trust him. Am I being paranoid? or would you not trust the agent and the contractor?

Should I hire a project manager ( ideally a local investor colleague) and a general contractor to do the rehab?  I can visit the site once or twice at the most.  or should I just find a general contractor (hopefully a referral from BP colleagues) and manage the project via phone and emails? 

I should say I'm very excited and anxious about this project.  Obviously it's keeping me up late.  It's 1:20 am and I have to be at work at 7:00 am!

I'm looking forward to all your advice and hopefully making  more colleague connections in Milwaukee WI metro area.   I know I'll be learning a lot in the next couple of months!