But no commentary or a way to rank or evaluate. 

W-2 employee.

But you will have to evaluate them from a landlord perspective going forward.  

They will be able to help you evaluate the deal, find a CPA who can analyze their books, make sure you have all necessary contingencies in your offer and find the any and all skeletons in the closets...Good luck!

on the PM side and what they charge I would have a sliding scale. just like some of my clients that own big class B  MF  they pay 4% and an onsite manager is the employee.

To start, research local markets, evaluate properties, and understand financing options.Good luck!

However, I'm not quite sure how to evaluate a home as an investment since the up front costs are so much higher and the mortgage terms are so different. 

Sure, there are going to be people who fail but if you truly try and make your best effort and do your own due diligence by evaluating these properties, inspection, ARV, etc. and really learning the strategy of both BRRR and turnkey fix and flip, it will work.You need to build a strong and trustworthy team on the ground.People nowadays quit the second something gets hard.

I'm curious how many STR's do you think 1 employee can manage? 

Leveraging Robbie's local market expertise, we quickly evaluated the property's potential.