At this point, I'm not willing to sink the funds for a paid CRM service but may be open to it in the future.

We have been hosting a real estate investor meetup for about 3 years now and meet the 1st Saturday of each month.

In a perfect situation, the payment will still be delayed (even if by hours) using this additional system.And secondly, many of these vendors have "clawback" provisions where, in their terms of service, you give them permission to go back into your account - even weeks after the fact - and reverse a deposit that was made by your tenant.My system is simple, allows for tenants to pay through multiple means, and does not cost me anything extra.

Have you tried reaching out to others who’ve used their services? 

Post on local Facebook pages for contractor referrals, go to local REIAs, and ask your potential agents and PMs (even if not using a PM at first...you may at some point).There is only so much that service providers can do and many of them are far from "experts"; so, be prepared to be your own expert at being willing to figure stuff out as you move forward.

Make sure it explicitly explains the process for termination if you are unhappy with their services, especially if they violate the terms of your agreement.3.

I would use a service like task rabbit or Thumbtack to see a handyman, get them out to the property and get them to do some work.

Like many MTR hosts, I feel like it's a big risk to list my properties on Airbnb for longer stays.

I also had the co-host look at my underwriting for a 2nd set of eyes.  

My team and I are actually hosting one this week in the Bellevue area.