You should be able to open an account virtually with them.

If you are working as a sub for me , you are interviewed , background checked , proof of insurance , license , EIN number etc .Sure hiring a illegal from a parking lot can be cheaper ..............Until they are not , they get hurt and file a claim against you , they screw up the job and it cost more to do it over than do it right .

If you just hire the cheapest or first PMC you speak with and it turns into a bad experience, please don’t assume ALL PMC’s are bad and start trashing PMC’s in general.

They will let you know what you can and can't do without a permit and what you are able to do yourself within the scopes of those permits.My concern is because this is a rental, if you do anything that is not to code and the tenant reports it, you will likely have some much bigger issues to deal with.Given you note this is major rehab, I tend to lean to hire most, if not all, out. 

You could arrange to have your cleaners accept the deliveries at the property or hire a local handyman to do same and even assemble furniture.

We negotiated a price that worked for both parties, closed within three weeks, and took the property down ourselves.This deal was so clean, we didn’t even need to hire professional cleaners.

I am considering buying the property in cash then hiring Servpro to fix the cigarette damage.

To avoid any problems with your tenants I’d hire a property management company for 1 year to take care of the issues.

I have seen all sides of this equation, self managing my own properties locally, but moved with the Navy 1000 miles away and managed the same rentals from afar, and had friends here in Memphis that had 18 properties and had them all with PMs with varying levels of success, some bad and some great.Self-managing brings about an additional level of responsibility that most of the time is fine, but that is not what you hire a PM for.

Now, if they are currently a renter, and they file either chapter 7 or chapter 13, you must hire an attorney to protect your interests in a bankruptcy proceeding.