It's hard to find cleaners, handymen, contractors, etc.

You will need to furnish the places, hire cleaners to come in every turn over.

Does anyone have referrals for good cleaners around that area? 

I'm in negotiations right now to purchase an existing plumbing business, then I will add handymen, cleaners, and eventually an electrician.I listened to a presentation from a Property Manager in Chicago that had 20 maintenance technicians, a 6,000 ft. warehouse with a full-time manager, and I think three maintenance coordinators.

I will likely need financing on TX end of the deal and it will be cleaner getting financing with everything in the LLC name.  

I agree with John, as long as you have someone to call for any issue that may arise, then you are good to go.Make sure you have smart devices like locks and thermostats that you can control from your phone.The most important person you will need is a reliable cleaner!! 

Another friend needs to renovate his house but can't get anyone to do it, it's brutal.Plumbers, roofers, lawncare, there's no one available to do this work bc there's waaayyyy too many Airbnbs for the local labor market to support.Not to mention the dire shortage of cleaners and handymen.

I’d do option 2, Mammoth Lakes, simply because you have friends who have strs in that market which means they have contacts for handymen, cleaners, etc.

I have seen other people charging linen fees and admin fees.My cleaning fee is a little higher that the cleaners charge to cover consumables and minor replacements.

They also left the house very dirty; no damage just took our cleaners much longer to clean up after.There are some great people that use Airbnb, but where there is an issue it is usually from one of them.I have had maybe one issue from someone that rented via Vrbo but it was minor.We made record cash flow during the pandemic (from Vrbo) during the pandemic.