But for the smaller investors like myself, I just don't see it being worth all the headache and aggravation considering the additional costs its going to add (licensed prop manager and all the accounts).

That's what I did for many of the reasons aggravating you now.

A good profit is the reward for being aggravated ;)

We realized about a month after he moved in that he was going to be a problem to deal with so we immediately hired a prop manager so that we could be taken out of the equation. ...Now, the PM may have done some things that aggravated the situation, but the landlord / OP is to blame for the tenant being in this unit in the first place.

Now that I am investing for less risk, less aggravation, and increased capital gain potential, I use the 1% rule for Class A residential and the 1.5% rule for Class B.

I've just about had it today, so I wanted to see what others thought. If you could change anything about your property management company, what would you do and why?

What are some of the headaches you put up with in ...

If/when I pestered them enough, they'd get caught up, only to fall behind again.Because I was aggravated at having to write them letters constantly (including certified at $5+), I consulted the attorney I used to draw up the contract and do the closing.

In the meantime, YOU get the aggravation, the 6 PM Friday calls, etc. etc.

Our mortgage lady is aggravating me to no end.

Don't focus on the rent money...the damages and aggravation will cost you far more in the long run if you don't take charge of YOUR property.