I keep a pocket notepad and cross completed tasks off. 

@David O'Sullivan JrRecommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

@Alex NARecommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

I'm also partially blind which made it hard to see all problems prior, he tried getting me to do a video chat with him on pissedconsumer.com where he has most of his negative reviews listed.Thankfully my landlords  now are amazing they arent cross country and come as soon as I message or call them. 

When licensee counts go down, average commission rates go up.

That was 4 or 5 months ago and no issue from the lender yet (Fingers crossed).

Last night I heard about a friend who had their electric bill go from $100 per month to $800 per month because the landlord did a repair to two of them and cross wired them causing my friend’s to short and use 8X the amount of energy for the month.

As @Jason Park mentioned, definitely avoid wonky layouts or adding a tiny bedroom just for the sake of bedroom count, as these can actually make your property significantly harder to rent to prospective residents.Code Requirements. 

Some states do not count owning and leasing real estate as doing business.  

Activities such as self-managing, handling tenant needs, monitoring security, and overseeing property maintenance all count towards these hours, even after all units are rented out.