You could buy a property and manage it yourself, hire a property management company to handle the day-to-day operations, or use a hybrid model where you manage the property but outsource some tasks like cleaning and maintenance.

A major selling point for my work is that you can focus on the value add parts of your RE business that only you can do- the "work on your business, not in your business" mentality of specialization and outsourcing.

My entire family lives in the area in which I'm considering buying, which is just a bonus in the fact that they could drive by - otherwise I would obviously look to outsource management of the property.

As your business grows, do less hands on and outsource more. 

It entirely depends on what you are looking to get outsourced and what operations you would want to take on yourself! 

Currently , I only have one outsourced mgmt company, but I have a personal asst that oversees that company.

Of course, these could be outsourced via contractors as well.This is how mine is set up and takes less than an hour a month to manage.

@Cristin Andrews this is why we believe owners should ask a lot more questions about a PMC's tenant applicant screening PROCESS, as well as all their processes, before hiring them.Many PMC's are outsourcing their screening process and/or solely using technology to approve applicants.

Since we are a bit larger we have a local area rep who can help with these things instead of the outsourced support. 

If you do purchase a house hack with a partner, the easiest way to structure it would be to outsource all the work to professionals and split the cost equally.