With two small kids I have to hire everything out.

Hiring a professional is a waste of your money.

Hire a property manager if you don't have the nature to be tough on this one. 

I have a contractor who reached out to me and wants to partner with me. he wants me to secure the property and pay for the material and the work but wouldn’t that just be me hiring somebody?

I want to grasp the concept of wholesaling locally before I move to a virtual market.

I would never hire a Realtor who hasn’t done what they are trying to sell me.

Historically the return of Los Angeles RE would beat the return on virtually any OOS RE market.

If you want him to do the work hire him, with a well defined contract as you would any contractor.

What if you have a property management hired?

Zillow was a pioneer in online home value estimates and tells users estimated home values, past sale prices and more for virtually every home in the United States.