To me every generic question like this post, the first response should be an AI response, followed by individuals personal take and experience.OP:Start small and Make Your Big Mistakes Early. 

I had no money to put down on any properties, so I learned (a lot) and put in a lot of hard work and effort to get some properties under contract.Initially, I had no clue what I was doing, but I had the help of some people (and I appreciated that)I made mistakes that cost me around $30k (lost a deal due to my ignorance regarding title and escrow)The good news with wholesaling is that it doesn't take a lot of capital upfront, and you can start talking to sellers and learn about the industry in general.The other good news is that you can without a doubt generate revenue quickly if you do things correctly (having a good TC / title / escrow connection that keeps deals moving on the backend)That said, there are a few points that I've come to live by:1.

The replacements often lack the experience.If you're looking for tax preparation only, without tax advice, then the worst times to look for a CPA are March-April and August-October.

If you don't know what you are doing there is a greater than 50% chance you are making a big mistake. 

This is the stereotypical CA worst case scenario explained.

For goodness sake, having to remove mechanicals in between tenants means you are buying the worst of the worst assets properties imaginable. 

Verifying last 2 years of rental history and income extremely important to find the “best of the worst”.Make sure you understand the Class of properties you are looking at and the corresponding results to expect.The City of Detroit has 183 Neighborhoods we’ve analyzed.DM us if you’d like to discuss this logical approach in greater detail!

@Spencer DixonRecommend 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.

@Chris Kay to learn to properly DIY manage you have two basic options:1) Trial & fire on your own, hopefully not making a major mistake that costs you tens of thousands of dollars.- Once your time is more impotant to you then the cost of a PMC, you can hire one.2) Hire a PMC to guide you on your first rental and learn from their expertise.- You can buy additional properties and DIY manage those, perhaps leaning on the PMC for any issues you're not sure how to handle on your own.Good luck:)

Verifying last 2 years of rental history and income extremely important to find the “best of the worst”.Make sure you understand the Class of properties you are looking at and the corresponding results to expect.PM us if you’d like to discuss this logical approach in greater detail!