I stopped doing them last year due to a mix of low pay and the management companies asking me to do unethical things like match whatever $ amount they had in their automated system or use bad comps.

A true win-win here.If you’ve been thinking about:building a web site for your STRresearching some automation tools like channel managersresearching some new markets or propertiesresearching some new tech to make your house a "smart home"renovating or redecorating your houseor anything else under the sun.........These tasks are easily outsourced inexpensively to others, and there’s never been a better time for this in your lifetime (or your parents’ lifetime, or your grandparents’ lifetime, or your great-grandparents’ lifetime…)Might as well help someone else feed their family while moving your business forward...

Virtual assistant sounds useful until you realize you first need to be automating everything rather than trying to have people do it.

I’m actively working on automation and an employee base to minimize that affect, but I still know there will be cost.

Make a list of the tasks that take the most time and look for ways to automate.

If you have the time to setup systems and processes to automate most of the management, as it can easily be done, then you don't really need a management company in the long term.  

We are able to modernize and automate these facilities, so they run on autopilot, giving us monthly passive income, once they are at market occupancy and stabilized, it is the best asset to own. 

What technology do you use in your business to automate your processes OR just make life easier?

Then train a model to tag similar properties and have an automated email sent to you.- Natural language processing - Use web scraping to get information on wholesaler websites, municipality websites, and forums for latest market data.

FWIW I am investing heavily in the market right now - my employer's 401k and match, I fully fund my HSA account (google it, commonly used as another 401k type resource), and send weekly automated investments to Vanguard VTSAX in my taxable account (which I could pull anytime to use for RE if I wanted, after paying capital gains tax on it).