My wife and I are currently looking into Allentown as well.

The current setup is idiotic.

Currently I am a loan originator, but most of my career has been spent as a mortgage loan processor.

I am a newbie investor, originally from southwestern, PA and now currently located in Washington, DC.

Unless you are looking at upper tier properties, you will likely be disappointed in Gatlinburg currently due to the over saturation in that market.

Currently, we are in our growing, and we tie the bonus to that.

@Stephanie SelbyRecommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

My current preference is the first option as I’d like to minimize our oversight, but any perspectives on this matter?

Quote from @Sherief Elbassuoni: Whenever I have cash, I put it as a downpayment for a new rental.Even if you got 4-5%, this is less than inflation, so your money is loosing valueMonth over month inflation is more current information than year over year...and it has been near zero in total for the past nine months and negative for 5 of those 9 months. 

I have high equity in my current duplex so planning on using that to fund down payment for the next property.