As a Realtor(R) and PM, I have observed many licensees that were poor PMs.

observative yes.

Observe, execute, adjust and repeat. 

One observation - not so much within the RE or BP community, but within the FI community, there seems to be this assumption that if you have to work at all, whether full time or part time, W2 or 1099, you've failed somehow.  

If you have less than 50 units, you should stick with one of the free apps or try Buildium.FYI - we train others on using Buildium, Appfolio & Propertyware and the number one observation we have is that most people don't take the time to learn what the software can do.

I am going to my first auction to observe this week but I wanted to do some research on properties being auctioned that day before I got there.

Yes get out the mailbox - observe the masses and do the opposite !!! 

@Derek Lacy and @David Dachtera made the correct observation, then if you rent your home full-time it is NOT your primary residence.

I would agree with your observation that you may end up spending the majority of your capex anyway to sell. 

They'll charge you a small fee (I've observed a couple hundred normally), but they have a few benefits:-they act as the notary-they're used to doing closings and can answer questions that may come up-they usually have a good network of folks in the game-probably the biggest selling point...they usually have free cookies, water, and pensGood luck, and congrats!