I can estimate most of the cost, taxes, insurance, utilities, PM fees, and such and I know that should be provided in the expenses but when it comes to the actual maintenance of the property, what strategy do you normally use?

Is my experience normal?

I would in a normal course of a rehab replace cast iron lines on the interior of the home and basement if they are accessible and if I already have a plumber there doing work as those are cheap and easy to replace at that time.

We're never going to fix this supply problem for housing unless we can juice the number of builds getting done to where its back to normal (i.e. pre boom times from 2005 to 2008).The federal government should do the exact same thing to stretch the money.  25k down payment assistance for first time home buyers who buy new construction homes as a no interest loan payable only upon sale or transfer (i.e. if the person dies and someone inherits, that 25k could be called due). 

If you did not deliver the proper Notice to the tenant, missed deadlines or tried something else that is not legal, your eviction case will be thrown out.A normal eviction for non-payment of rent should be settled in a month, I can only imagine that your property management company does not know how to follow the law - and I hate to say it, I know several, that do not even meet the necessary license requirements and therefore no surprise they don't know.

For me personally, it sufficed to have my "normal" homeowner coverage and require renters to get their own.

Normally, I'm always opposed to selling anything ever. 

For instance, with STRs, why won't an investor spend an hour on AirBNB for their area to identify listings that:1) rank the highest2) occupancy 95%+3) ADR $750+4) hosts have 2+ properties5) listings are branded with 20k+ Instagram followersetcThen, reach out to those top operators; as many don't have the time or gave up on cold outreach, yet they've done the hardest 90%, have skin in the game, and outcompeted thousands of listings nearby.

So true...I just got my bill for the last quarter and it was back to normal.

I’m frustrated and getting mixed suggestions from family/friends who think they are experts with no skin in the game.