Late payments, property damage, and evictions are avoidable when you have a PM who knows how to find reliable renters.I encourage you to seek out a property management company that emphasizes tenant screening and uses modern tools for verification.

I understand that I need to account for taxes, insurance, and other costs—Should I go with a LML and then do a refi later on?  

I"m also seeing people doing STRs to get the tax benefits besides the higher cash flow. 

We should have a "good, bad and ugly" GP list for people to look up and avoid these GPs in the future.I wonder if anyone of you have heard of 711 Rescue and can let me know if this kind of company might be able to help the LPs.

He will however be the first to counsel others to avoid anyone found to be unscrupulous after ALL of the facts come out and that usually takes time. 

NC is a great market for your goals, however it will be challenging to find inventory that has much cash flow; many people who toss money into multifamily here do it to avoid the tax bill + take the 10 year runway of growth.How much SHF RE do you currently have?

A well written management contract should clearly spell out what is expected of both the PMC and the owner, to PROTECT both and avoid misunderstandings.

I would avoid any tool that charges 1% of booking revenue as payment.

For example, this investor that I met recently said not to buy properties at tax auction for 100+ different reasons.

Definitely tread carefully here to avoid any discrimination claims!