It was our fault so it is what it is, but it sucks that an honest mistake that would have been a super tiny inconvenience for the guest ended up being a huge thing for us with a monetary fine and likely lots of money lost in future reservations.  

Huge mistake - almost everything has gone wrong, the Property Manager they set me up with was unable to manage, had to fire them, find a new PM, and more than a few other problems.

We only answer to help people not make the same mistakes we've made.

First of all, meeting with the listing agent unrepresented is a mistake!

I hope to gain knowledge and experiences along the way (hopefully with more triumphs then mistakes if the knowledge was implemented correctly).

Take the learning in chunks and let property number 1 pay for the inevitable mistakes on property number 2. 

@Nicolette YorkRecommend 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.

It took me awhile to figure out how the author came up with the numbers that were provided in the summary numbers for the end of year 4, but I believe I figured out at least part of the mistake.

The worst mistake of my life.  

A lot of investors bleed money by making terrible mistakes as landlords.