Rest assured that even if the maintenance fees get raised, you will never have the expenses (and your time spent, this is HUGE) of a single/multi unit.

With you being out of state through the cost of using an agent may be a good way to go so you can assure everything is taken care of and save yourself a trip.  

Kind of like, they did it, so it is fine to do it here and you are just being a picky landlord.Anyways, thanks for the re assurance, since I thought I was being a jerk. 

Does not pay the rent the next month, but assures us "he is working on it".  

All of them assure me that they charge hefty fees for cash advances except my local credit union (who just charges the standard finance rate on the card). 

I self manage 5 vacation rentals and I assure you.... you don’t want gadgets in your home.

The thing is, they're making it hard for us to know for sure whether there's genuine interest or not, without having a little more information.Unfortunately, I think this is what happens when the dynamic between us and the realtor lacks a strong relationship.Other than assuring them that we're not going to risk our namesake with them by going around them, is there anything else we can do to get the info we need to truly evaluate this deal?

More active than most neighborhoods I've seen.In six years of full-time RVing, two years living with snowbirds in South Texas, two years living with snowbirds in Fort Myers Florida, and seven years of living in the winters with snowbirds in Casa Grande, Arizona, I can assure you that I have found hundreds if not thousands of couples that are extremely happy living on much less than $500,000 in assets and much less than $5000 per month of passive income.

But let me assure you, professional fake landlords will still fool anyone with your trick questions. 

@Brandon Turner As an out-of-state investor, perhaps you could have "*If remote, assure escrow agent hires experienced RE notary for remote signing and select location for meeting".