All these PMCs are essentially bidding on a job, like a contractor would, and the ones that have responded have had no issues in asking us to set up a time to meet.

I don't think leaving them money is my job though. 

That said, we're not overly familiar with this market, where to look, or what sort of funds would be required to allow a rental to work.Again, some sort of house hack and MTR strategy would be great but open to suggestions.

Nothing wrong with this - it could actually be a home run of a market, just make sure you are comfortable with your underwriting.I suggest buying data for your market on Pricelabs specifically ($10-20/ mo - worth it).

Your friend who is a licensed GC is going to run the job, and you're sharing the risk of the CL ...

What happens if he fails to finish the job?

Quote from @Dan Hinz: My business partner and I are looking at buying a property in Akron, OH, but we aren't intimately familiar with the city yet (we both live in Florida).Other than virtually driving around on Google Maps Street View, does anyone have any suggestions on how to analyze specific areas and neighborhoods?

Thanks for any suggestions!

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions that they wish they knew before they opened a brokerage? 

Your Lender My suggestion to find #2 & #4 would be to go to the top of this page and click on FIND AN AGENT & FIND A LENDER.