I know this thing will pay off in the long run but don’t want to kill myself doing it lol That's why you pay a broker 1-2% to find the best terms and handle the deal for you, lol.

Do you use any tools or services to automate the process, or is it something you manually handle?

They have offices in many states and handle thousands of rentals.

I do not offer limited service where we handle cleans and maintenance only, but I have seen companies that offer that in the past.

They also handle legal matters, like making sure the property follows the rules or dealing with evictions if necessary.For finding deals, I recommend starting by connecting with investor-friendly agents in your target market.

Figure out how you want to handle you investing and what role real estate plays in that. 

When ready, start with a small property, near home, with enough capital in reserve to handle adversity.  

A more realistic expectation is 24 hours which will ensure we can arrange any repairs or corrections with a team, handle it in person, etc. be curious how this plays out as I worked for local developer for a while and developed several properties in Alexandria (Specifically old town) and while the city is challenging like any city - they were mostly realistic.

Also, the whole point of hiring a PM is to handle tenant, maintenance, and rent collection, so if your partner isn’t actively managing but just supervising the PM, IMO not worth having a two people essentially looking over the same tasks.Contributing financially for one person and the other having no financial stake raises decision making questions, such as when to sell, how profits will be distributed, etc.

A professional manager can find qualified tenants who respect your home and handle day-to-day issues.