I would personally pick option C.Place tenant myself and self manage for the following reasons:I don't like giving away 10% of my rents.No one is going to care about my property more than me.I have systems in place that allow my to self manage with minimal time.I have a great support staff that I can text when there is a repair that is needed.I rarely take calls from tenants and tell them to text me to keep from getting caught up in their drama.If they don't pay rent on time and it is a repetitive problem I file an eviction to train them they must pay on time or go somewhere else.They can pay rent with Zelle, paypal or deposit rent into my bank account (most deposit into my account)It is their job to pay rent on time I do not collect or chase rent it comes to me.My rental portfolio is very passive with little interaction required by me.

The management fee will be based on what is standard for the property type in your area.

Plus we are trying to gauge an appropriate level of standards for our rental area. 

If it's a standard Lakewood up/down duplex it probably has a plaster ceiling under the ceiling tile-- at least all the ones I visited when my son was apartment hunting were plaster.IMO, the "nicest" fix (assuming the old plaster is in poor condition) is to scrape off the acoustic  tiles and then drywall over the old plaster with a smooth finish; the cheapest fix, if the only problem is the one tile you pictured, will be to screw up the tile(s) that is/are lose, cover the screw with a little joint compound and then primer and paint the ceiling; If you are lucky the tiles have already been painted before.

We know our own area well, and can almost always find deals that we'd like to pull the trigger on, but until we accumulate more cash, we can probably only purchase another $100-120k in property before we slow down and wait for our debt snowball to catch up (pay down the HELOC and eliminate the cheapest mortgage to open up standard financing options again).Here is the conundrum: Another local long term rental (or two) would be a great decision, BUT a beach house sounds like a lot more fun.Specifically, we are 2 hours away from Panama City Beach, and we are curious to get into a new type of real estate.

My guess is that your partner did not file CA state form for the LLC and did not pay $800 minimal annual tax.

They'll offer interest only payments in 1 year, 2 year and 4 year options with rates going from 8.5% - 12%.  3 points is pretty standard for a deal that small UNLESS a broker wants to hack off a half a point or so to help out a first time investor who they believe in and want to work with long term.As far as all those lenders throwing money at you haha One of the biggest problems I see is loan officers wasting peoples time by acting so stoked on every deal they hear about and taking investors into the process without doing DUE DILLIGENCE. 

It is used to make a quick assumption on a property and can be valuable when an investor wants to do a quick look at multiple properties without knowing a lot about the details of those properties.As I noted in my response, better companies, doing better renovations and offering a higher standard of management, will be successful at holding down those costs over time and may even be closer to 40%.  

If anything, you'll get an additional tax filing and a reduction of your lifetime exemption.

@Daniel OrdonezYou are unlikely to find a competent CPA who can meet the 4/15 deadline that close to it.I recommend you file an extension and then find a good accountant here on BP.