I will be doing multiple deals like this because I market to out-of-state owners.

If there is low inventory and you have a quality product then you will get multiple offers- All regular sellers are waiting till spring why wait on the competition.

Spinning my wheels, networking with as many investors as possible, searching for the real deals, just basically putting in work and realizing it doesn't happen over night...For all the major players, the true investors: if you would please,enlighten me and all the newbies out there, what your typical day or week is spent doing...

The single family play is more the break even in cash flow (sorta like what you proposed) and hold out for equity appreciation, eventually selling it to cash out or cashing out on rents when you own free and clear in 30 years.I'm more of a cash flow player and thus look at multifamily houses.

Is the 2 percent rule more applicable to multiple unit buildings when moving into higher prices?

Again it could be a reasonable cost depending on what all they had to do.There are multiple issues here.1.Most of the items mentioned for repair should have shown up on an inspection of the property PRIOR to purchasing.In my mind if you didn't get a inspection from a 3RD party inspector not affiliated with the company selling you the property then these repairs are on you for not doing due diligence.2.The other component is that this property manager has their own crew.I don't like that one but and would never agree to it.Sometimes managers also get referral fees for giving business to skilled trades even if they don't have their own crew.The problem becomes then instead of getting the best rate they have to pad it a little to give back to the property manager for the referral.So either way I am sure the property manager is reaping a benefit monetarily from it.This way they make more than the lousy 50 to 60 bucks a month managing a property.This is why I am not a fan of "one off houses" in an area far away from where I live.This is why I like owning apartment buildings.I can find a full time highly trained manager easily and they use systems and programs to control cost and everything is documented.Since they only focus on management and are not a broker/agent doing transactions and then handling "rentals on the side" my properties get the focus they need to be ran properly.It just sounds like you purchased wrong and then on top of that have a property manager padding fees with the repairs.REO agents used to do this with banks.They wouldn't make much commission on selling the little dumpy houses so would have their company do the trashout,re-key,repairs and charge full market for it.Eventually the banks caught on and choosed their own company to perform tasks and only let the broker list the property for sale.Sometimes that works and other times it doesn't as the broker or manager is now dealing with outside parties they can't control saying work was completed properly and it wasn't.If you haven't had an inspection of the property I would do it now to see what all else might come up in the future so you can expect it and plan for it.

Does he have multiple crews?

These are the questions I ask of buyers.I know the chance of a deal happening based on their answer.Statistically a direct buyer has the best chance of transaction a deal for me an earning me a commission.The other ways there are multiple times in the deal that things can fall apart and you are back at square one under contract again.

I made it a point to stay out of those areas for multiple reasons.

The chances of your house burning down are very low and if you have multiple properties the chances of them all burning down at the same time is astronomical (assuming they are not right next to each other).