To avoid going through the same poor experience, keep reading.Even if someone give you a referral, don’t make the mistake of assuming that PMC will meet your expectations, just because they met the expectations of the referral source.We also can’t believe how many owners hire the first PMC they speak with!

@Chantelle LewisRecommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

I would just cap it generously to only catch abusers and figure the normal running costs in your rent. 

A good GC will have their own contract for you to review and you could potentially negotiate from there to see if you can figure out what works for both of you. 

One of the things I'm trying to figure out is if I'm better off getting a few lower cost properties or on higher priced property. 

First thing I recommend is to figure out your target market.

@Martti Eckert here's the big issue that no one really talks about that you hopefully find helpful (this is copy & pasted):-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

With different municipalities I am expecting this to be a bit more lengthy for us. 

@Dwight HenningRecommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

Trying to figure out what I can/should expect to charge for 1)Purchase price; 2) Down payment and; 3) the spread per month if any on what I pay per month.