I have personally purchased large apartment complexes from REITs and know how poorly some of them manage their properties. 

I do not use a property management service to advertise and have always used Zillow to advertise, previous references, housing records, credit checks etc

I have purchased the following books:ABCs of Buying Rental Property The ABCs of Property Management The ABCs of Real Estate Investing The Advanced Guide to Real Estate InvestingThe Book on Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money DownWhat order do you recommend reading them in?

Managing tenants yourself is no small task, but I’d say it’s often a blessing in disguise.

She's our CEO for both our Sales and Property Management companies as well as she co-owns a contracting company with her husband while managing a whole bunch of kiddos!

SO many more options and the reduced responsibilites and work loads are under valued until you deal with them.. lol Also when you factor in management fees it can be quite comparable in net proceeds, without the wear and tear on the property and furnishings. 

Absent them, risk is controllable over time.I self manage a SFH in the Bay Area in a very pro-tenant city (some cities are a little less pro-tenant than others).

However, I manage about 60 houses so they want to keep my business. 

Reliable property management is everything, especially as out-of-state investors.

We seem to have a great property manager at this point.