A real estate company told me the house needs too much work to rent out, and that an auction is the best course of action.

kind of like prosper and those type of companies ( which I cant see loaning money to individuals totally unsecred like a CC company ) that seems like super high risk. 

Much easier if your local contact has worked with these companies before.  

Since we will be investing remotely, we plan to work with a property management company to oversee day-to-day operations.Does this sound like a solid strategy for a first investment property?

The title company/settlement agent is responsible for more than half of the costs listed on a settlement statement. 

It is normally not a good sign if a company has to change their name.

In my case, I have residential rentals in one LLC, commercial properties in another, self-storage in a third, and my real estate company operates in a fourth.

I have zero affiliation with any of those companies.

When I did my research for buying my properties in Costa Rica, I had one of the big STR management companies like Evolve analyze my potential profits and I used that info to raise money through bringing on partners to buy the properties. 

Planning to go back to the same company in downtown Dallas?