In general, I'm not fond of tripping over pennies on my way to dollars.

My gut instinct here is that they caused the problem to occur again because they didn't want to pay $100 for the plumber (after having to pay $50 for trip fee for the time they didn't answer the door when he came).

One of my goals i hope to achieve from investing (long term) is to be able to afford to take a trip to Ireland to meet my distant relatives at some point. 

I know plenty of brokers that are killing it, but running a brokerage is a different ball game than just being an agent.As a caveat - "full time" for me is about 70 hrs / week, which includes about 30 hrs of "commuting"  (which usually involves dirtbike or harley trips). 

Which may have a difference on which state your property is in. 8) You can make a million people say the words "Loud drunken party" until they pass out and unless there is a police report or something you can stick in front of a judge you are wasting your time (from a management perspective). 9) If you don't want to just have a property manager "just inspect "every 6 months" then do it yourself as many times as you want to make the trip.

Unless you need to get on a plane or drive for several hours, you are in your area, plus you grew up there and have a good understanding of the market, the only time it might be a pain would be when trying to rent out the unit (s) as you might make several trips out there for showings.

Maybe tie yourself in with some breweries and see which tour companies are making frequent trips there.

You can find these on BP.3 Plan a trip to the city to meet your potential team and to drive around and get a feel for the areas.4 Join a local REI group and try to attend one of their events while you are in town.Hope this helps.

For example If I go to evaluate a house an investor is considering buying I will do a Trip charge.

Since making multiple trips  over the last few month, viewing properties, property inspections, talking to people about quotes for work and meeting people I've started making contacts that inform me about off market deals, property referrals, offers to join into new deals or just be hard money with people that I meet up for a coffee or beer when I visit.