@Lindsey PinkhamRecommend 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 agree with what you said in your post, maybe add management as you build your portfolio. 

@Justin SegarraThere are a handful of us here in the forum that House Hack MTR by the room on FF (and other sites) and the informative conversations are sprinkled throughout, so I recommend doing a keyword search here.

Recommend 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.

Here, you'll find recent and older BP posts from members in/around Newport News. 

First steps are to get "some" information (don't think you can learn it all because it's impossible).  

So, why are there so many posts here on BP from owners complaining about their terrible service?

You can search another one of my posts to give you a sense of generic rehab and maintenance costs, in the end this is the key variable in your underwriting that needs to get nailed down. 

Sharing the same data source as everyone else means the lead is more likely to be saturated already.Finding unique data sources or just being on top of publicly available information could do wonders.

These can include inputting your own information and getting a cost seg in 15 min, or having an engineer come to your property and make a more detailed study of your STR.