I currently invest in multifamily within a two-hour drive from my home and self-manage all while maintaining a full-time job.

You want someone self-certified to avoid delay from multidepartment review (there's a list of maybe 700 of these architects on the City site).

As an MTR I can get $2,200 but I need to pay an average of $200 for utilities and an extra $100 for vacancy reserves (I self manage so no increase there).

Are you planning on leasing the property yourself/self-managing?

The rental income will more than cover the mortgage and still provide positive cash flow, which is rare in the California market, making this a great opportunity for us.However, underwriting has expressed concerns about us moving from a presumably larger home worth $606,000 to a smaller one worth $376,000.

I love spending hours researching projects" - sounds like you are good at self-education.

The only reason I had to have a PM is the city I invest in requires you to have a PM if you don’t live close to the property otherwise I would have self managed.

I have seen identical properties next to each other with one producing $63k and the other $140k and the only difference is who is managing it (including self managers).

We flip, LTR, Syndicate, and have one self-managed STR.

I do self manage and it’s been fine.