I’m seriously considering hiring a different agent and would appreciate your opinions/personal experience on whether I should be looking for another agent or be patient.

Do I have to go through the associations property management services or could I hire someone independently?

@Tony Sherman, yes.Closing delays on buy side with title issuesMaterial delays, which can compound into contractor delays when you try to keep schedules tightContractor delays because prior jobs are not wrapping on timeContractor delays because you need to fire one and hire a new oneScope of work issues, i.e. no signs of moisture intrusion prior to buying, but all of a sudden you have a wet floor after a good hard rain.Closing issues on sale sideHow do you manage?  

Being brand new you may not know all the ins and outs of flips… but it’s easy to get exploited in a number of ways by people you hire to do the work.

Your response is based on your skills and personality, but I wouldn't even think of hiring an attorney or panicking over this issue.

If they are behind and you don't already have the answers, I recommend you hire an attorney asap and get control of the situation quickly.

However, it's been six months since we hired a property management company, and the property is still not rent-ready.Now, the management company is telling us that we need to spend $8,000 to get the property rent-ready after a pagedale occupancy inspection.

I'm guessing the reason they get away with this is because they know how expensive it is to hire a lawyer to get rid of them.

If you aren't prepared to deal with very basic things you should re-evaluate your situation and work to get prepared or hire a PM.

I will hire out to another expert to handle other aspects of our finances to make sure those are on the right track.