Self managing first property

[Therese LeDonne]

Hello, My husband and I are about to purchase our first property (single-family home, new construction, riverside county, CA) The house is about 45 minutes away from where we live. Neither one of us has any experience managing a property. We initially planned on hiring a company to manage it, but are thinking since it's only one house and it's not too far from where we live, maybe we will try managing it ourselves. Thoughts? If we do, what apps/software do you guys recommend for tracking expenses/rent and running background checks?