There is a difference between ownership and putting the locus of the universe upon one's shoulders.

Additionally because your PM is a real estate professional they are bound much tighter to fair housing than a private landlord... looking inside ones car; or going with the ‘gut’ to decline applicants or any other subjective item which really has no recorded impact on a tenant’s qualification for housing is the same as rolling out the red carpet for fair housing violations and lawsuits; this is unreasonable and to be honest any PM which allows you to make applicant approval/denial decisions prior to the decision being made is just opening you and them up to HUGE liabilities... they are the RE professionals remember... that is why you hired them.... that is how it is viewed and that is how a judge will view it too; fair housing violations will fall onto the PM’s shoulders which is why they should be the ones approving and declining (you should however certainly review their approval/decline criteria before even listing)Financial responsibility/Fiduciary: Yes... financial responsibility yes not even a question here.

The layout is one that your shoulders touch each wall to use the toilet and the shower has a leak somewhere. 

This system seems hopelessly involved and given the fact that we don't live locally puts too much active involvement on our shoulders as well as "check-writing" which is always a mess (we use  an online service to collect rent). 

Thanks in advance for your help.Rob Personally the best route I have had and seen with all my other investor clients has been via having their own agent/ broker, and Farmers has been head and shoulders above all others.

That will allow you to look over the shoulder to see how an experienced sponsor operates parks and you get to "earn while you learn". 

Don't know of any data that measures property value with/without HOA's...learned from experience that a neighborhood with an unpaved common road is challenging to get every property owner's "fair" share of gravel purchased.Pride of ownership, with no official HOA, means that those most able/willing (able is questionable sometimes) to buy and spread a load of gravel on the community road often falls on the shoulders of a few property owners. 

Metal stairs are doable, but I've now talked to 3 different contractors and all of them have given me the cold shoulder. 

And, don't forget that some parks will have a "peak" season, "shoulder" season, and an "off" season, all with different rental rates and historic occupancy, particularly if the park is in a location that caters to snow birds.If the park does not have long term tenants like described above, then you have more of a "rolling stock" park and it will behave much differently.

I will not allow new paving until 95% had been achieved on the roadway shoulder and it must be 100% density in the roadway.