Does the operational company already exist and have income history?

Ideally the owner would handle everything and would have no need for a property management company with only this single duplex in their portfolio. 

Watch out for the name Eric Lee as well as the company Sowae Corp and be careful not to do business with him or provide your personal information. 

I've worked for Superstar Car Wash, Circle K, and The Carioca Company. 

Suncoast is a very big company.  

In the past when I am looking for a property manager I google to find all managers with physical offices in close proximity to my properties to narrow my search and ignore all sponsored adds that fake that they are local.Since you have self managed, you will be better equipped to "manage the manager".

Typically, if you have a mortgage, the mortgage company will collect taxes and insurance when you pay,  so there is not really any budgeting required for this.

Anything beyond that is going to take some blocking and tackling (reaching out directly to local companies like solar farms, construction, medical staffing agencies, etc.).

Larger company -- tried to escalate to the owner. 

From there, I would like to consider a 1031 exchange in the future to acquire more units.My current property management company suggested that they could handle a mid sized apartment building but I would absolutely not consider them for it as I believe they have overextended themselves and communication is lacking.