@Isaac Terry Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

At this point, I would recommend having a line of credit to cover these things so you don't have money sitting in the bank doing nothing when it could be put to work.I have 33 units, no debt except for mortgages, and excellent income.

If you're looking for cash flow (like the 1% rule) and amazing appreciation potential, I do recommend a market like Columbus Ohio. 

BiggerPockets also has a calculator to analyze deals, and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy.

Here's a video with some tips, but I recommend you watch several videos, read some blogs, and educate yourself on what to look for in a brokerage:

As for finding a contractor, asking local investors for recommendations is a great start.

I would not recommend that.

Seems like a pretty fair recommendation to me.

I've also held of holding properties in individual LLCs that are owned by one S corporation, which allows for a 60 / 40 split between ordinary income (regular tax) and dividends (capital gains tax rate).With the goal of minimizing taxation and liability protection, what would be the recommendation from more experienced people here?

Feel free to DM me if you'd like more insights on all this (we don't do biz in Alabama so got nothing to lose).Here's some other "copy & paste" advice on how to search for a better PMC:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend 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.