You clearly have never own rental properties in NYS, sir.Every tenant gets a pro bono attorney for landlord/tenant matters, and there are TONS of these young law school grads working for United Tenants or other such orgs that are more than willing to make a case out of nothing, throwing it on the legal wall and see if any of it sticks.But, I digress...Here's an angle no one has yet taken on this one. 

The other frustrating piece to that pie is that folks assume because properties are going for cheap in an area that contractor rehab work is going to be 'discounted' as well, and it is NOT discounted, it's the same going rate, if not MORE in less expensive neighborhoods because it is MORE COMPETITIVE in those areas for licensed contractors.

If you are in California, then property in KY, Indiana, TN and a lot of other areas seems dirt cheap to them.

So go find that local person who teaches cheap classes, or provides a 1hr overview at a local REIA.Read the book the 16% solution for a general overview of concepts and ideas.

You request cheap, you get cheap service. 2.

I'm just throwing this out there to see if there is a need.

They want to do everything by the book, but don't understand the inspection process and don't want to invite an inspector to come over and throw the book at them.  

But I’ll throw out a different approach.  

Although my cost of capital was cheap (2.5% 30yr fixed), the increased STR supply resulted in a more hands-on approach by me (better marketing, improving the quality of my check-in hose, services, etc) and this wasn't turning out to be as 'passive' as I would have liked (I've been managing my own LTRs for close to a decade, so perhaps I'm spoiled).

Companies invest heavily into training because its actually relatively cheap.