You're right, the customer service is the weak spot, but we rarely need it.

You could choose the absolute best market in America with the best upside, best deals, best location but if you have weak team members such as a broker, contractor, lender, and property manager your investment will surely experience hardships.

What are there strengths and weaknesses?

He was weak and needed help with everything. 

@Chase Cline Another idea that I came across in the book "Real Estate Loopholes" by Kennedy and Sutton, says "if you hold real estate in a state with weak or non-existent charging order remedies, you may want to consider using two LLC's for protection."

Another reason in case might get dismissed without prejudice is the landlord is a weak scumbag who realize he doesn't have a chance in court against an astute tenant and he doesn't want to have to pay all the penalties for turning off utilities and making death threats to get people to leave.

Is he paying top dollar in weak markets in order to generate deal flow (to which he then syndicates his entire equity component)?

We are all different due to life experiences, skills we have learned, and our individual strengths and weaknesses.  

If your weakness is rehab, then maybe a good partnership would be with someone that has a strong contracting background.As many more advanced investors have shared with me, "The true power in real estate is witnessed over the long-term".

This is the primary weakness of a hobby landlord and amounts to asking your tenants forgiveness for operating your business.