However, we are taking over from a PM to self-manage and are inheriting the current setup.Our biggest concern is that this first communication from the tenant was a sob story asking for $500 back/off rent.

When I was self managing, I turned over units in days rather than weeks/months and had reasonable contractors. 

@Greg P.Given your objectives, if you extrapolate your numbers it would take 97 rentals earning $300/month to return $350,000 per year.One thing to keep in mind is that not wanting to invest locally and self manage, you will also have significant property management expenses.  

I self-manage in Detroit for now.

I borrowed $110K from a private lender for the purchase and self funded the repair of the offices. 3 months later, I rented 6,000 sq.ft. of office space to a corporation for $21,000/month + utilities for 5 years with another 5 year option.

Admittedly, they seem a bit sketchy,My question would be, for a person such as my self, how does one go about vetting these syndicates?  

But I had not built up my self-confidence yet.

Although we could continue to add to our Self Storage investments in the US.  

A realtor can send you a walk through 360 which can be good enough to get in on some listings to make an offer.Once you make the offer fly out and do a personal walk through and then figure out do you want to self manage or hire a local manager.

Yeah for sure, I meant to say that buying in the U.S. you might be able to self manage if you want but international you probably don't have the option but I didn't express that super well.