Agents can know what a house is worth, but a small percentage of houses (even on the MLS) will sell for below market value, for a variety of reasons.

General BP advice:  When you post these questions , you get a variety of responses , some just come here to bash you ,some to defend their profession ,  some want to help you , but they are too biased to provide a quality answer and finally some who genuinely have the intention to help you and provide practical suggestions ( they might be right or wrong but they have the best intention )Some don't realise the impact that they will have on a newbie - when they call you tire kicker , time waster , unreasonable ...

A second "office" number with voice mail (that can be checked remotely, or, more recently, that sends an audio clip to a separate email so you are notified right away) or an after hours answering service that can screen the calls has always worked well.I DO always provide my cell number to contractors and certain others that are sent to the property for a variety of reasons.

One strategy (you may not like it) that most people are looking at right now for a variety of reasons is new construction.

@Michinori Kaneko I got annoyed as well when I saw in the contract my management pocket late fee to themselves...but over all they seemed professional...are good with communication and their base fee were much more competitive then other PM in the area...I would be much more concerned about the inability to cancel contract quickly (mine is 30 days which sound reasonable)...I would start looking for another PM and in your case since you have multiple properties...would start moving them one by one as they go out of contract...informing the PM company in a letter very professionally for the clauses in their contract which make you move your business elsewhere...if they figure you represent a growing portfolio maybe they'll reconsider.One of my most important criteria when I chose my target market was that it will be large enough metro to allow PM variety. 

In the first, “the rat race”, the player aims to raise his or her character’s passive level to where it exceeds the character’s expenses through a variety of investment options.

Be very upfront about the living situation and expectations, have a system for chores in place and if anyone causes drama of any variety deal with it fast and effectively.

There are a variety of carriers that will do this sort of risk however there are several options.

@Tim Holmes There are a variety of passive, replacement property strategies available to exchange investors that include DST's (Delaware Statutory Trusts) and TIC's (Tenants in Common).  

I can't control interest rates or tax policy or a wide variety of things.But I can control my own efforts ... making one more call, one more inquiry, following up one more time etc.Congress and other government players make life more difficult when they pass idiotic laws with automatic extensions or automatic expirations (Bush tax cuts).