Of course, you would need to do your own research and due diligence when purchasing a company but perhaps that's a way to get involved in the trades in the owners seat.

My local cable, internet, cell and utility companies are already using it to field calls and answer questions online and phone.

I will note though that lots of people manage multiple rentals without hiring a STR management company (myself included).

When I filed a claim, my insurance company denied it because the property was under rehab and not rented.

Maybe it has more to do with the software than the company (although their customer service sucks), in which case you might run into the same issues with other emulators, but it has just been constant headaches.

I'm also relatively young and interested in some more "challenging" investments (although recognizing that I would have to do everything remotely and source through a property management company like yours).

Some transport companies have house kats that can get off the road and onto the site for an additional charge or you can hire a third party if the access from the road is limited.  

From what I’ve heard, there are reputable local management companies in regions like San Antonio or Omaha that handle everything from screening tenants to arranging quick repairs.

With our structure, the development company owns about 45% of the equity when complete, and I own 50% of our company.So it will be about 22%

We had a client that bought in Port huron and then ended up selling their property because they went through 3 PMCs and gave up trying to find a great one:(Some copy and paste advice below:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend 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.