Additionally, you may be planning on living in this future home for some time. 

Read your mortgage paperwork for the due on sale clause. 

We don’t know any PMCs to recommend in the area mentioned, but since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant, you might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processesWe recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.

I am currently trying to learn as much as possible by reading books and listening to podcasts.

I read the permitting process and it seems somewhat strict.

They seem to keep going back and forth on this issue.

The Retainer Fee is credited towards whatever they buy from us in the 90 days, so in effect, costs them nothing.Note: we're not doing this to make money, but to avoid the time-wasters.

I saw it coming so I forced myself to learn REI strategies and to read this forums 2-3 times per week.

Does anyone have experience doing this?  

@Tobi Isaacs this would be better answered by other investors in your market.