A good PM can turn a mediocre investment into a solid return; a bad PM can ruin a good investment.A good PM can also help you narrow in on the best neighborhoods, cross-check what your REALTOR tells you, and line you up with solid contractors.I'm biased, but I don't think there's a more important person to have on your team.

@Amy DenzlerRecommend 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, 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.

If you hold out a section of the home strictly for personal use that part will not count towards your 1031 reinvestment requirements. 

House hack/rent by the room is best with a high bedroom and bathroom count.

Can I write off BOTH the moving truck that I will hire AND my entire cross-country road trip (hotels, meals, supplies, etc.) to get my car there?

At $30 an hour, that should count as $600 a month in expenses or $7,200 a year.My STR performance slowed down last year.

(If you drove west from Denver along 32nd, you'd never know when you cross into Wheat Ridge.

So to count on scoring one of those in the small window for a 1031 would be tough.Should I just keep the property, do light reno's and increase rent and bank cash flow? 

It only takes 30 secs of my day but yields important numbers.Example; I just checked a pending property around the corner from our rental because the size and bed/bath count is the same.

Also a weird caveat is that in order to count rental income on any FHA property to offset the mortgage for your DTI calculations on the next approval, the properties have to be more than 100 miles away.