As @Igor Messano mentioned, you should visit/look at online nearby properties and see what they did in terms of aesthetic and functional design.

I will be near by if anything goes wrong and my father in law is a GC so he can and has helped me with the harder stuff.  

He told a family member of mine that was nearby that he was "hired by an agent". 

They also work with economies of scale where they could use your lot for valet overflow from a nearby hotel, or have one person manage/audit 6 automated lots, etc.

If you are nearby, self-manage for now.

However, I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket and would like to invest in another town or two near by that are safe, have low taxes, and a rent to purchase price that makes the numbers work.  

My one main concern is a lot of these homes would rent for quite a bit of money and I'm kind of wondering if these higher end clientele might steer away from a property like this with the landlord living nearby.

As far as tourism, you've got DPAC and the Durham Bulls and nearby Duke.  9th Street has been booming too.I think if you are able to find a place that is convenient to downtown you'd have a slam dunk.  

There is a condo that has been flipped nearby for sale at $78,000.

It's free and nearby in St.