Just don't pick a place which has everything outsourced to call centers in the developing world, or your refinance will go sideways five ways from Sunday - other than that your lender shouldn't really care that much who you use if you don't want to go with their default go-to.When I present the option to select their own title company on a refi, most people have no idea what I am talking about, which is why lenders generally do not present that option. 

If you're doing less than a couple hundred then doing it yourself is ok but after that you're much better off outsourcing the work. 

We do self manage at the moment, since there isn't much margin to outsource to a property manager.

Plus as an investor, you need to know your strengths & weaknesses and be ready to outsource the latter to maintain your business efficiency - regardless of the proximity to your tenants.

Definitely not after outsourcing property management.

I do repairs myself before or in between tenants but when I have a tenant in there I prefer to outsource it.

Once you get to a point where you no longer have time to do it yourself and you have a larger budget, then you should start looking to outsource.

Not to mention that they are also outsourcing their staff from other countries to set up this scheme. 

I recommend streamlining, categorizing, and potentially outsourcing the majority of these tasks.

If this does not fit you personality or you’ve reached the point where you want to scale it can always be outsourced.