if he performs a service for you, just pay him for it. 

Quit expecting the tenant to 'perform' for you. 

In the case of GEG, we let our members know we did not have a track record with them - they were new to us and just being tested - and therefore it was even more important to perform thorough due diligence since we can't be involved in the transaction. 

So now you are throwing good money after bad probably without a guarantee of any actual performance of the company until much later down the line.  

Especially when I saw the high rankings on Airdna for DFW and started to dig into the highest performing listings and sub markets around the area.

The client gets to receive the home as a performing asset with built-in property management in place so the entire process can be smooth and enjoyable.

We are in Los Angeles, and although we do not own anything in SD, we hold a loan on a portfolio of SFR's there that is not performing at the moment.

Dump the thing and either hang on to the cash while you find a performing asset or 1031 into something that does perform.

While this job could be performed remotely, working with my peers in person for at least a year is important to me.

Depending how much of the neighborhood is a hot zone for renting rather buying, and which Property type is performing better than the other (meaning 1bd 1ba 2 floor renting out faster and much more consistently than a 2bd 1ba 1 floor), you can make your choice of those factors as well as other ones that impact your decision for what you wanna do with your investment.