We try to save money by occasionally doing our own work, we only have a handful of properties.

You should fire them right away and talk to an attorney to prevent the loss, but I wouldn't expect much and it could be a waste since a company that does this will not have the money to do anything.When you have just one unit and you are looking for PM companies, your options are the bottom of the barrel because it's not a good use of the big one's time.

Unfortunately, we just don't have enough BP members right now that can make meetups.

But what you make and what the IRS thinks you make can be two very different numbers. 

You said, "I'll have to put in extra of my own money for reserves..."

Hey @Matt Agnew I would get a friend or someone who knows you to lend THEIR IRA money to YOUR IRA.

What criteria makes for a good live in flip?

I will always look at the air handler and make sure tenants are installing fresh filters (most neglect this item).  

I'd say just start your search with all 2-4 unit properties, and when you find one where the numbers make sense and it checks your other boxes (somewhere you actually want to live and house hack), then it probably makes sense. 

We upsell 3-to 4 simple packages that guests love; I have trained my cleaners to handle them (they make extra money), my VAs help schedule it with cleaners, and we still make a 50% profit margin on everything.