Try interviewing at least three managers.1.

-- sort of depends where you live and if you want to invest out of state / have the ability to manage a team remotely, the best out of state investors are very active in managing their teams.

The #1 reason why landlords fail - according to the American Apartment Owners' Assn - is failure to manage to the lease. 

I'm with a third-party Property Management all over Houston managing a little over 300 Single-family or Small Multi-unit rentals!!

That said, here is how I would proceed...For some background, I used to run an STR management company in SATX and we peaked at about 35 properties under management. 

For the tracker, I would just have a simple Excel sheet without generic entries 

Also, any advice on managing budgets for PPC in the real estate sector would be really helpful.Thanks in advance for any insights. 

Also do research on what's required to properly manage a LLC so the veil cannot be pierced. 

As a management company, we also have a duty to get a property occupied with a qualified resident as soon as possible and sometimes that means adjusting rents down for right now to generate revenue.  

Unfortunately, over the 11 months he has lived there, he has only managed to pay the rent on time once.