As a real estate broker, I tend to see activity slow down in the late fall and winter months. 

The new builds tend to attract better-quality residents. 

@Daniel BaradRecommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

While I'm aware that Airbnb tends to boost new listings, I'm uncertain about how VRBO works in this regard.

Combine that with a very steep carried interest and I don't care if this is the deal of the century, because if it was, they would not be so fee heavy and rely more on carried interest.Personally, seeing a lot of underperformance in syndications, I do tend to see an inverse correlation between upfront fees and overall performance.  

Hi Tristen,  did you ever get any good referrals?

As a consequence, I tend to force appreciation in any event.

It's completely fine and yes, it will tends to wobble when you run it on max speed.

Ithaca is like another planet.STRENGTHS-  appreciation is pretty much guaranteed, no matter how crummy your property is-  student housing isn't restricted, they'll live anywhere-  having an ivy league school means there's a lot of money flying around-  rent is high-  tons of development and growth going on-   strong STR performance outside the city properWEAKNESSES-  almost absurdly high prices-  similarly absurdly low cap rates-  pesky annual inspections required on multifamily properties-  most deals happen behind closed doors, and agents tend to be very unhelpful-  5-7% cap rates typical, sometimes lowerSummary: Ithaca is a great market to park your money in and wait.

I will always recommend using someone that comes as a referral from another person that has used that company/person.