If you are going to self manage you will need to build business systems and get a list of reliable vendors.  

I’ve noticed that most of the listings on that site in SF have average at best pics which i was shocked by (I’m sure this is not your wife).

But i still want to list on platforms like VRBO/ABNB.

I'd also recommend finding an investor-focused agent in that market, sharing with them your buy criteria, and then having them set you up with an email list for properties that get listed. 

I have been seeing a few more interesting listings popping up.  

I am pretty sold on DataFlik's stacked lists, but I wanted to run this question by all of the smart investors here at BP. 

Now I am brand new to real estate so this could be dumb but I'm reading Brandon Turners "Rental Property Investing" book and I was intrigued by chapter 3 where he list out 4 plans to start with when getting into real estate.

I’d fix it up and list it to sell after I’d been there two years to take the gain tax free.

Here are some coming on BP: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521-real-estate-events-...We have a list of a lot more investor meetups that I will happily share with you. 

I should have figured out it was a scam because of every reason you listed.