I do it from a beach, you need a team, get off the internet, don't read, don't learn, don't do research, just call my team, happy to assist"

@Raj KandragulaRecommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

I found a cumbersome solution via Pricelabs but I think we're just going to eat the difference in cost to ensure our team stays happy (we're in a mountain market and finding A players is extremely difficult). 

Explain in details...I would love to learn about best practices!

This is a learning experience for me in my landlord adventure.  

Based on this, I felt comfortable doing a screen share with with an investor client and one of the agents on the FIG team.  

I self managed my first properties because I wanted to learn the process and be actively involved. 

Many times, they learn the hard way. 

Reading, learning, and contributing to the forums.The podcasts are great but I usually skip the episodes that don't apply to my market, or when guests get start talking about overly leveraged deals. 

Lessons learned?