(I personally would assume there would be forms to fill out at the very least, but, he asked me to ask these questions for him.)Thank you in advance for your time.

Out of state landlords still self-manage their properties as much as they like as this agent is really just there so that the municipality feels like they can reach a real local person when there is an issue.

I haven't personally gone yet because they are usually during a week night around 6-7pm but hope to get to one soon!

Nick has the best Data with easy to understand graphs and charts for each City, Area of the big Cities, County, State and whole Country with ReventureApp.com and its free unless you want a personal conversation. 

Personally If these rules keep investors out or financial trouble, I think they are very worthwhile.

What are the risks if the person isn’t qualified?

I don't know any personally but the Bay Area is such a huge market I'm sure you can find someone.

The NAR settlement will wash out a lot of "agents" who have to do 3 other jobs on the side to survive. 

My best lender when I was active was a private person. 

I am sending mailers, but would rather not list my personal residence or use a PO box.