Strategies for long-distance house flipping

[Dave Vona]

Hi, I'm looking for some recommendations from people who have completed long-distance house flips and rehabs.  I live in Denver and I'm looking to do flips out of state due to the challenge of finding homes in Denver and the high price points.  I completed one flip in Kansas City earlier this year with a full-service broker.  I made some money but it didn't go as smoothly as I would've liked.  I'm trying to figure out how to estimate the rehab that will be needed, and then how to manage the project from out-of-state.  I think one option is to have a partner that is local that can help.  I've read @David Greene' s book Long-Distance Real Estate Investing and he had some good recommendations.  However, if I'm doing a flip I won't have a property manager to help, and if it's an off-market deal, I also won't have an agent/broker to help either.  That means I would need great contractor that I trust to provide the initial estimate and to manage the entire project themselves.   Does anyone have any experience in this area?  Thanks.