In total, including money lost from rent, legal fees, and repairs, the situation cost almost $30k.

Talk to a competent CPA.BTW, the real value is not derived from saving a management fee. 

You open yourself to much more risk in not being able to finance out of it and being stuck with hard money and those fees/penalties.

Large syndication company, higher fees than most other syndicators.

Then you get 100% minus cleaning fees and maintenance. 

We built two homes side by side on infill lots with a lot value of $20k each and hard construction costs of $196k (builder’s fee not included).

Quote from @Mary Jo Carruthers: Fees for buyers side has never been set in stone.

If you're dead set on that path then I would recommend getting a google meet with the person and give them as many advantages they have to using you as opposed to a property manager ex: guaranteed rent, more exposure, and less fees (use chat GPT to get a good list).I would emphasize the fact that it is much easier to get rent, and there is less risk to them in the sense of cash flow.

Thus, they take extreme risks and look for corresponding discounts.Additionally, after the first position lender accounts for default interest, penalties, legal fees, foreclosure fees, accounting fees, and everything else, the equity in your combined <65% ARV loan can easily erode to zero.

However, it may be prudent to wait until you acquire property in that state to create the LLCs to avoid paying all the necessary filing fees when you have nothing going on yet.