How do current rental yields in these areas compare to other neighborhoods in Atlanta?

The question is alternative use of equity compared to current use.  7.

Why am I giving up an equity stake for someone to run the same comparative market analysis I can run to come up with roughly the same number I would?

I believe the prices are lower there compared to Bentonville because of this reputation.

Still, you may try evaluating a different east coast market and seeing if you're liking more of what you see down here compared to NYC/Newark.

Bigger markets do offer more data and comparables, which can make your initial analysis easier.

Than I compare those, and I pick one.

I'd also recommend checking out the Market Finder tool (biggerpockets.com/markets) for a quick way to compare markets and narrow your search to a few top-performing areas. 

We don’t know any PMCs to recommend in the area mentioned, but since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant, you might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processesWe recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.

I think that compared to 10 years ago, the financing is more aggressive, and there is more competition.