You don’t need anyone to hold or manage your SD 401(k) plan.

But yes, if I were you I would most likely start off with house hacking, self managing everything so that you'll educate yourself very quickly. 

My property manager will use their own collection agency to try to get all back-pay.

Hi Melanie, I both own and manage in the area and to be honest, the market in Kissimmee/Davenport is tough right now unless you're willing to invest a lot of capital into high end theming. 

Capital management firms and credit unions tend to have better rates.

The managers are non-communicative.

Metron and Southern Water Management are two that we've been talking to.

You could reach out to a few Property Managers in Salt Lake City to see if any of them would be able to give you advice for the area, as they would be familiar with the region and what to expect from the investment! 

Quote from @John Friendas: Hey,My investing partner and I have reached an agreement where he would have the debt under his name and apply for it individually, and I would do the majority of the management (he is out of state and my income is half his).

I'm not counting those since I don't manage them, but I typically avoid cities and states with laws antagonistic to landlords.