There's so much good info here.

Personally I would want to manage the rental myself at least in the beginning to make sure you get good ratings.

Good advice!  

If there's anyone who can offer me some advice on the best way to get started with no capital but good credit, that would be great.

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

If you're in it for the long run you'll learn that management makes a good investment into a great investment.

Good luck and congrats on escaping CA.

When you do this long enough, you get an idea of what a tester asks about or they start digging.  

Sounds like a good tenant with an inattentive child.  

Websites like Furnished Finder and even hospital or university housing boards could be good starting points to market your property.