Recommendations for those people can be achieved right here on bigger pockets. Search the forum for the city and state that you want to buy property and the profession. For example type Detroit lawyer in the search box or it may be best to subscribe to a national legal plan. You can also go to the real estate meetup groups in the area near the properties that you want and ask the members there who they have used. You can also go on facebook and sign up for the real estate groups in your area of investment and ask the people there. Other facebook groups that are good is REI Blacklist and Rehab recommendations. Once you get this list, check licenses, look at experiences that they may have listed here or on www.linkedin.com. Call them make an appointment and ask them questions about whatever your concerns may be and what you intend on using them for. Tell them what your strategy is-(buy and hold, flips, notes, etc) Ask them if they invest? If so, do they invest in your strategy? If not, do any of their clients invest in your strategy? Whats their availability like? What are their fees? If you can meet in person that would be good so that you can check out their body language and see if you are a good fit. Also look at their office. How many people do you see in their staff? How do they interact with their staff? Does it look organized? If you are not comfortable with anything said or how they make you feel dump them. I do not care how many recommendations they have some people pay people to say something good about them. I did get ripped off by Wendy Lovejoy Williams who used to be marketing director at a Georgia REIA. She had came with many recommendations, but there were things she did that I was not comfortable with and I overlooked them. Now I am paying for it dearly. Also double check everything they say because she told me she preached. After realizing she screwed me I called the church she told me she belonged to and they said they never heard of her or her ministry.
Take it a step further and sign up for www.pacer.gov and check other sites like http://www.ripoffreport.com, http://www.bbb.org, http://www.consumeraffairs.org, www.fraud.org.
For lawyers you can also start with the bar association of the city that you will invest in and tell them what you want.
For realtors go to the real estate commission of the state to see how long they have had their license, if they even had a license, if it was revoked. Have they worked with investors before?
For contractors some places require that they are registered with the secretary of state, so check that website out or call. To get contractors ask realtors, other investors, www.angieslist.com, www.houzz.com and www.homeadvisor.com. Are they bonded?
For property managers you can check www.irem.org. How many properties they manage? Do they manage only certain areas of a city? How long? How many evictions did you do this year? How many in staff? How do they handle late fees? How do you handle repairs? Can I see your agreement? Contractors bill? vacancies? security deposit? How do you screen tenants? How long do your tenants stay?
