For my first investment deal, I wanted to learn how to manage a property that is still within reasonable distance, but far enough so that it will force me to automate and learn how to manage it remotely.

If you want to maximize write-offs then you have to go the manual route, if you are okay with a softer angle, use the automation.

I obviously pay per listing but the features and automations are not even worth it even if you paid the per unit cost I pay. 

Just looking for the automated transaction piece so that I don't have to go back to Excel.

Personally, I'm currently using Hospitable, which can automate a lot of the communications (even detecting and responding to a lot of questions).

Thank you in advanceI use automated excel templates that breaks down the business logistics into simple dataFrom that you can see if the purchase would fit into your portfolio i can sell you one if interested  

Once you get more than a few, then automation makes a more sense IMHO.Short list - Pricelabs for pricing.

My understanding of the current text messaging compliance is that it's OK to send unsolicited texts as long as you don't use some kind of software/automated technology.

Do you do any kind of automation for these properties?

.-  Pro's:  Additional functionalities, such as tracking maintenance, automated bookkeeping, screening reports, etc.