Abel,I appreciate your time and words of encouragement.

On Thursday we received encouraging inflation data making rate cuts almost certain by September or November. 

I would strongly encourage people to stay away from FTF. 

@Lorenzo Clark, thank you, great idea to connect with local realtors - and yes, my home inspector guy was great, encouraged me to not think I have to make all repairs at once but can prioritize, and told me what needs to be done ASAP/First - I think I could definitely contact him in the future for ideas/referrals and cost estimates.

However, you need something in place that encourages the tenant to comply with the lease.

It has been slow moving trend, with ups and downs, but its encouraging to see a stable downtrend. 

Everyone seems to encourage you to keep the bad tenant because he eventually pays.

@Daniel BaradRecommend 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.

I do not encourage owning investment real estate in your personal name.  

He can also walk you through the actual acquisition process if you've never bought rental property before.I would, however, encourage you to do your own due diligence when analyzing the market and the actual property you are looking at.