Since this is your first renovation, I recommend getting a GC to do it.

Do you ever make it to any of the CHS meetups?

You can really do that?

If you don't have free cash available that limits lots of options, but if you do, that is another story. 

I like doing business there.

To avoid going through the same poor experience, keep reading.Even if someone gives you a referral here, do NOT make the mistake of assuming that the PMC will meet your expectations, just because they met the expectations of the referral source.In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!

My excess cash flow per year is around $300k in cash, meaning theoretically I could do 6 deals, but in order to make that salary (HHI $722k) I need someone with the time to do the repairs and manage the tenants.

Do you think I should give up all my profit to just get the first deal done? 

I can see an explicit exception in CA Tax Code § 17561 that says you can not use the qualifications in Section 469(c)(7) (Real estate professional) to render that income as non-passive, but I see no callout for 1.469-1T and, as such - as a non-CPA - I do not (yet) see a reason why we cannot follow the same rules for CA that we do for our federal taxes; e.g., if the business is not a "rental" business per tax code, we count that income as non-passive and offset other income (W2, etc) similarly.Does anybody else have some guidance (or opinions) on this matter?

What documents do they require, what credit scores do they allow, how do they verify previous rental history, etc.?