Do you really not see the value that a trained live market experienced real estate professional will bring to the table in pinpoint accurate pricing, advertising to other buyers in his/her network, office and other agents and ultimately writing all your contracts that are covered with E&O insurance and backed by an experienced also live RE broker who both live, work and spend money in your community?

I havent been able to pinpoint much clarity around this and didnt know if a 1031 would interfere with the capital gains of selling a primary residence or vice versa. 

How do you pinpoint areas from a distance, can you still find success in markets like the one I'm illustrating above?

A good agent and PM will be able to compensate for lack of local knowledge and should be able to pinpoint some good areas in your target city to invest.

You can try services like Rent Range or Rentometer to better pinpoint pricing and from there factor in monthly expenses (you don't want to set it so low that you're operating at a loss, but set it high and you'll price perspective candidates right out of your candidate pool).

With an idea of the numbers of people available in a locality, and their rough ages & stages of life, one can pinpoint the "sweet spot" in their own investing strategy.

If the property has pests when the tenant moves out, the treatment expense is deducted from their security deposit.Granted, if this is a multi-unit it is difficult to pinpoint which unit is the cause of drawing in the pests. 

Keep asking questions, pin point their needs and goals.

If you had a breakdown of costs by trade category you could compare your typical prices that you've paid in the past 'pre-COVID' vs what you are seeing 'post COVID' and at least pinpoint areas of the project that seem high compared to normal.It's really impossible to tell if the quotes are high or not because we have no specifics?  

If you haven't already, try to pinpoint exactly what could be done to fix the problem you have with them, then explain it to them and see if they are willing to do it.