I know this whole experience has shown me many aspects of planning that I would never have thought of on my own without experiencing them first. 

If  you like the 'decorating' aspect of a remodel, forget it.

To each his own I guess....if you want to fix every little cosmetic issue a brand new tenant wants to bring up, then have at it....don't say I didn't warn you.......If you want to "jump" every time a tenant tries to intimidate and bully you with nasty emails, then have at it....good luck with that....My job isn't about making every tenant happy about every aspect of the unit...... there is good customer service and having happy tenants and there is being railroaded into the tenant being fully in charge...If you want perfect units, then make them perfect before a tenant moves in....not after they tell you to fix everything because they don't like it .....

We are in the process of moving everything over to Rentec Direct which we use for all other aspects of PM.

The accounting aspect is great as well.

Swings can be as much as 10 degrees or more from one side of the house to another. 55F is a safe number to keep most critical surfaces above freezing.The difference in energy use between 40 and 55 is so small that it is not worth the risk of a broken pipe.

What I would suggest is to spend a disproportionate time on what your ultimate goals are and that way you can work backwards to see which strategy gets you there fastest.One unique aspect of multi family is that the assets are substantially valued off the Net Operating Income so in order to see appreciation you should have an achievable plan for increasing income and decreasing expenses.

OP  had a very long discussion on another thread regarding taxation nuance and this is a made up story that dissects all aspects of aforementioned conversation into separate pieces in an attempt to dial in on some uncertainties.

I also use the credit check and screening software aspects of Cozy.

I would work to find one willing to accept a 90-day trail, no early termination fee.Self-Manage with help:  You can continue to self-manage but try to outsource certain aspects.