Please recommend a lawyer who works with fixed fee and does not charge for every min s/he talks to you. 

I have offered to provide snappy traps for tenants in the past.

The insights shared by the Realtors, @Zeke Liston, @Jimmy Lieu, @Nathan Gesner, @Samuel Diouf, @Sam McCormack, @Min Zhang provide a solid foundation for anyone starting out in this industry.From a property management perspective, it's great to see you're considering the long-term rental strategy.

I have worked with a builder in the past who offered new construction quads for investment in this area.  

It’s been a pain going there every day for the past 4 weeks and looking ahead to have to keep going there every day for the next 4 weeks.

Then your heirs can inherit your position and keep it going every 10 years.....etc....as compared to the MIN which is due in 30 years.For example here are a few recent CRE deferred sales trust deals:- Owner who sold a $34M apartment complex and moved his funds into a Deferred Sales Trust. - $18M Business Sales of Veterinarians who sold multiple practices in Virginia and Indiana.Another example, was for a couple who sold their primary residence for $26M in Newport Beach defer $6M in capital gains tax.

My home has appreciated significantly over the past 2.5 years and I am hoping to take equity out.

I already had my own business, some cash, lines of credit and a solid contractor as a partner which is how I have grown my portfolio so aggressively over the past few years.Unfortunately, $8k is not going to get you very far despite the promises of no money down investing.

If was originated as owner occupied in the past and no longer is owner, if you have change of name on deed or insurance, if impound had a dispute, claims - are a couple reasons why the servicing changes.

A PMC is the ONLY one that will deal daily with your property.Here's some copy & paste advice on hwo to screen PMCs:Recommend 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.