That's not the service we look for with the vendors.

Just as if you took that $100K loan from a bank.How you "service the loan" is up to you and the seller. 

We choose to manage our clients' entire portfolio (as long as it's in our service area), regardless of any of their properties being in less-desirable areas.  

That said, please be sure to follow forum rules and not solicit in the forums outside marketplace or spam via the message system, both of which are against the terms of service here.Based on your initial post, it sounds to me like you have more to offer than most so in my opinion, you have a better chance since you have the skill set AND some skin in the game!

You can even set it up with a servicing company so everyone knows that the payments go where they need to.

I am researching and considering using an online service to help with rent collection, statements, and other administrative management tasks for my rental property business.

This is partially due to the Urban Service Boundry. 

Odds are your lease requires you to pay the water bill and apparently you cancelled service, so he is now billing you for the cost up until the new people moved in.

I have used services like Cozy.co in the past to collect rent - but not sure about the application fee.I know that plenty of services will do the screenings for you, but I don't mind (and actually prefer) to be the one who vets each applicant. 

They are all in stable neighborhoods composed of primary owner/occupiers in markets with strong 30 year population + job growth forecasts.Sources of risk come from a variety of sources, starting with (1) the market, (2) the property and location, (3) price you pay, (4) management strategy, (5) rental rate you set, (6) rehab budget, (7) service provided to your tenants and how strict you are with them, (8) your ability to attract and retain high quality brokers, leasing agents, inspectors, handyman/contractors/agents, etc, etc., (9) level of investment experience you have, (10) familiarity of the market, etc.As an investor, one of my primary responsibilities is risk management... my ability to fully understand all of the risks that I am taking and put processes/structures in place to minimize or control these risks.And if you are a successful risk manager, i have found that in REI you are able to mitigate the downside and generate returns that ARE NOT commensurate with the risks you are taking and do so by providing a triple win to your investors, your tenants, and yourself!