We began an integrated marketing plan a few months ago to try to find new investors who need PM, and we keep coming back to this question of psychology in our strategy discussions: What makes a self-manager decide they want to outsource management of their properties?

Some people outsource their social media postings; just because their are posts he may not be the one making them.

One reason I don't mind doing this is because Im able to outsource alot of the process (which I do especially on smaller deals i.e. showing the property, marketing the deal online etc).

If I only get a few calls, I'll expand my list and if I get a deal I'll probably outsource the letters and do the same.

I would recommend not outsourcing that bit until you've talked to enough people to get a feel for it.

The time came to start outsourcing the mailings - folding, handwriting the address, affixing the return label and stamp.How much do YOU pay for this job (per letter/ per hour) ?

I then set followup sequences inside of my CRM which notifies me when it's time to give a cold lead a ring again.I've seen my response rate go from a 1-2% to around a 4-7% increase when i added cold calling.The beautiful thing is this entire process is now outsourced and it makes my business more profitable and gives me more time during the day.

My suggestion to save you time if you get signed up for TLO hire a VA with skiptracing experience so you can outsource these task. 

My husband ventured into IT outsourcing and I (Filipino-American born in the Philippines)  here eventually became a Real Estate Professional.  

In the long term,  buy and hold could free up more time than other options, especially when you get to the point that you can afford to switch to outsourced property management.