But everyone is looking to 1 call close on real estate transactions. 

Once that tree crossed the property line , it became your tree .

If we had gone through with the transaction and somehow obtained right of first refusal written notice, would the seller be legally held accountable without us forcing litigation?

But, excel is totally fine in the beginning (in addition to your PM software to capture transactions outside of the properties).We use QuickBooks Online exclusively for all of our REI Clients.

I have attached the summary below of our numbers of this transaction.

Expenses (both transactionally as well as operationally)  disproportionately impact lower priced assets.

You probably don't want to be dual dipping on a transaction anyway. 

One will not cover damage covered by water damage 'from above' and then theother will not cover damage caused by water 'from below' (flood) and then they cross reference them and don't pay at all.The good ole Insurance people will do anything to not do their job, which is to pay for their clients damages.There is $$ available through FEMA, but it isn't much and good luck getting it.Question is......even if you can get some money do you rebuild in the same locations?

@Kenneth P Ford they are a national franchise with great marketing.They also have some national support for their individual franchises, but it all depends on the local team.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.

They don't want to manage another rookie employee, so make sure that you have something to offer them (be a gopher comes to mind, or a transaction coordinator).