Hi Michelle, A general help on strategy read my paper on buying rentals, linked off my profile 1st paragraph, How To buy a bullet proof rental portfolio.A 2nd help is if you are serious about setting up a system, team and set of local peers, you should consider joining the local REIA that I ended up choosing for all my local support, contractor referals, legal helps etc.   

How do you advertise your vacant units?

It was one of the few reasons I didn’t do it.There are enough other ways to invest in stuff and be able to know your family supports you.  ;-)

How do you advertise your vacant units?

I am okay holding it but wanted to issue a "holding deposit" that would turn into part of security deposit at lease signing, but if for some reason they back out it could semi- recoup the cost of holding and not advertising. 

I've raised my security deposit requirement to 1.5x monthly rent so I'm covered for 1 month plus some damages if they don't pay last month, and also a cushion for those trying the Emotional Support Animal route to save on a pet deposit. 

For many, it absolutely makes sense to invest in turnkey and you can find fantastic operators that provide incredible service and their advertised numbers match reality; you just have to shop around and due some deep dives into their operations and get referrals from their past clients and choose a company that you can trust.

I recommend setting up keyword alerts for each area as they are discussed in the forums daily with advertisements posted in the BiggerPockets marketplace hourly.

Does PM provides input to the owner any data to support this?

They get make-ready money, they get advertising fees, they collect a portion of first months rent (or something like this depending on your PM).