For example do you have a great w2 and can you afford to cover costs of a major repair or 3 months of vacancy?

However, you make a great point about starting local and dodging PM costs to start...

They will have additional costs for mailing & online campaigns to get leads.

The location all in,cost him X; he got an appraisal for the bank from CBRE national firmof XX and now the firm who called him mentioned paying XXX.

You will learn the cost of maintenance/cap ex and how tenant quality plays a big role.  

If your property management company is good and has built an internal maintenance team which has set rates and had strong relationship relationships with licensed contractor which should keep costs in control, you should never need to shop contractors on your own I wouldn't think.So in short, our policy is give us your preferred contractors upfront if you have them, but then we work all tickets to resolution including dispatch, and payment of invoices.This is of course for operational expenses.  

I hate to go that direction, but their negligence has cost us thousands.

I want to know is it more cost effective or easier to purchase the property alone and put it in a mortgage in our name or purchase the LLC from him that holds the property within it.

I'm curious as to what cosmetic rehab you have to do that costs $27K? 

WHAT IS A COST SEGREGATION STUDY?