The house I purchased just needed cosmetic upgrades throughout, and I performed those while living in it, with the exception of  the kitchen. 

They do what their bosses tell them to do and those guys are more concerned with the performance of the entire portfolio and do what their bosses tell them to do.When it comes down to it, you won't know why a bank sets their minimum bid and reserve bids where they do.

I have the tenants sign this as as addendum to their lease during onboarding.Tenant(s) hereby agree(s) when vacating the premises to perform as follows:All-Purpose Cleaning Walls/Ceilings: All walls and ceilings, including baseboards and mouldings will be free of cobwebs and dust.

This is standard procedure for most builders these days and is very helpful for communication, scheduling and budget.Remember its all about relationships and as the developer you are the leader so its up to you to provide clear direction in no uncertain terms exactly what you expect and when then measure that performance and hold the team accountable to the goal in a way that is positive and encourages the results you're after. 

Easy task for a title co to pull the deed or any other docs that are recorded at the registry, happy to have my title guys do it or you could try going on the registry's site to download stuff yourself (a small fee per doc), could even go there in person, they're very helpful!

@Kade Eiguren  Look at your competition and their performance. 

For example if you have a mom and pop tenant based on 17 bucks a foot rent because that is all their business model can support but a national tenant wants the site and can pay 22 because of location not only can rent potentially increase but also that new tenant value can be a massive difference.Mom and pop at 17 a foot and an 8 cap for instance.Say 4,000 sq ft box X 17 = 68,000   (8 cap) = 850,000National tenant at 22 a foot. 4,000 X 22  = 88,000  (6 cap) = about 1,470,000There are expenses involved getting the new tenant but value difference can be massive.Leasing brokers can perform a (void analysis) which not only looks at rent comps for box size but also what existing tenants are in the market,saturation levels, and what possible tenants optimally could go in that space.    

Any property owner can act as their own GC and hire individual subs to do the tasks.

You manage hundreds of units, so I can see why you’d want to keep on task and schedule, but for a single property owner I don’t consider this a big inconvenience.

If you own small multifamily out of state you have to worry about if the tenants will pay their rent, landlord tenant laws and eviction process which often favor the tenant, if the property manager will be hands on enough with the property to keep performing or will they overbill or steal from you?