I agree they had communication issues during a transition period that we dealt with, but things have improved from last year. 

Communication is highly important to me as well. 

Their communication can be described at best as mechanical.

If you feel passionate about managing them yourself, I'd recommend getting as much done and communicated up front.

That’s our primary method of communication so it works.

I also have the text logs, since I stopped talking to him on the phone so that we would have a record of his communication with us concerning the rent.  

There's really not a cost-effective solution for utility monitoring for SFR, other than Nest.WhatsApp for business communications is lmited - how do you scale and hire someone to handle, while being able to track what they do?

Just make sure to document everything and keep communication open.

Quote from @Katharina Bormann: I address the importance of clear communication in my book.It's not enough to tell them what is wrong.

Either you don't know why because you have your head in the sand and haven't paid attention to their communications or they are trying to hide things from you.