Those failures are  more negligent than a PM allowing a guest who paid with expectation to stay at the house to remain there in the middle of winter when they arrived on a Friday evening as you described.For now you will have to rely upon insurance, I don't believe the PM acted unreasonably given the circumstances.

Look for books published in the last 2 years as some of the books post 2010 seem to give people unrealistic expectations.

Their cost basis is about $33k, the agreed upon purchase price is $250K and the expected appraisal might be around $350k-$400k. 

PM is a thankless business where you are expected to work 24/7 for pennies and every little problem has a finger pointing at the PMC.

This is something that I have really come to realize over the last couple of months as I've been learning.I came into this expecting it to be complicated, and I am not disappointed!

Yes, you personally aren't living there, but with high crime comes unqualified tenants and high maintenance costs (stolen materials, broken windows, etc.).

The only time I'd say it's an okay idea is if either: The area you're investing in is expecting so much appreciation that you will easily profit off that (watch out for mortgage interest though...the appreciation needs to be higher than what you pay in that and expenses to make it profitable)You have some specific reason for wanting to do it- family ties, future home, major long-term hold, etc.Maybe I'm forgetting another one, but those two are all I have for now...

The team members I've worked with are super nice, but I have to ask, are there significantly better turn key provider deals to be had with a little more patience/perhaps better expectations set from me?

If your cash flow is break even and you don't expect a groundswell of appreciation, why hold it? 

We tell everyone to expect it to take a little while, there is so much to choose from right now.