@Ash BisariaRecommend 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've learned you cannot trust the media with the storms as they sensationalize everything. 

Happy to help with some referrals if you need any.Also, a great resource I learned a lot about BRRRR is by listening to free audiobooks about the subject.  

I have a goal to post at least once a week to get to know you guys as well as make sure I'm consistently learning from people who are smarter than me :)When I started reading and learning about REI I felt pretty strongly about hiring a PM.

Lessons learned?

Didn't have to learn anything new as we grew! 

if your immediate area is too expensive, i'd pick a couple markets between 1 and 3 hours away, learn them, go to meetups, look at properties, get connected, research strategies, walk them, narrow down to 1, repeat, etc.and if that sounds like it's too time consuming or something you're not interested in... no worries. 

Sounds like we are down to the last few items before wire transferring funds to me.

@Brooklyn Brown - You'll likely have to hire a GC and learn that way

I agree there’s no way to hold a seller to a price because of the items you mentioned.