That said, long-term the appreciation you get in the Puget Sound region is superior to many other markets, so assuming you find an excellent property management company that is able to screen tenants and only put in very well qualified, vetted occupants and you experience limited issues over the holding period, you'd likely come out ahead retaining the Mill Creek property if your financially able to do so and still buy wherever you are headed out of state.

Go to BUILD YOUR TEAM at the top of the screen and look for local investors or meetups in your area.

@Mark Ainley and @Brie Schmidt are more experienced than I am and may have other good thoughts on tenant screening.

It is increasingly common for a PM to charge a "leasing fee" which covers all the costs of marketing, showing, screening, placing tenant under contract, collecting deposit and rent, setting up utilities, getting the tenant placed, etc.If the PM can't justify the cost, then they shouldn't be charging it.

In all of that time I've only had one situation that I would have kept any part of a security deposit for "damage" (to replace one new set of king-sized sheets.)

Usually, your PM might do some light rehab/turnaround to get ready repairs, but in general you would hire a contractor yourself for a medium or bigger sized job. 

Once all of the above is known, and you have a preliminary site plan showing how many lots (and the size of lots) are available, you can start putting together numbers on the cost of the whole project.

Learn in the field, not on a screen.3.

So, the first question they usually ask a PMC is about fees - instead of asking about services and HOW those services are executed.EXAMPLE: PMC states they will handle tenant screening – what does that specifically mean?

The neighborhood is desirable, so renting it wouldn't be difficult but it would be niche because of its size (4/3, office, dual living rooms, game room).