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.  

It sounds like you may be a better fit for a smaller operation that still offers guided tours.

@Jay Hinrichs exactly the risk is even more than traditional development and the profit is actually less with more operational headaches.

Operating your rental like a business is mandatory to protect you, your ROI, and your property.Hope this helps...

Our core value is to do right by our clients and provide value.

My job every month is to operate with as little $ as possible in banks that pay nothing, getting every dollar possible into my money market accts earning 4%+.

My core investing philosophy is pretty simple, and has done very well across almost two decades and numerous cities:1) Invest in cities with population (and job) growth2) Invest in parts of the city where household income is near the median (or slightly below)3) Invest in properties that provide cash flow from day 1 Thank you for sharing that. 

Is it Leasing, Property Management, Vendor Management, Operations, Finance, Accounting... 

I added a pool and did some landscaping and have been using it as a family winter retreat and renting it to a STR operator the rest of the year.

No lending institution or bank would be permitted to operate with those ratios.