If someone has gone through this and could share how they handled it, I would appreciate any tips.

Property management is also an ongoing issue, as is finding high quality contractors.

Might not be awful to buy it an put it on Air BnB, might draw some tenants at a marked-up rental rate.

The other tip I have is attend attend attend all networking events in your local market.

Great tips in here :) 

With the biggest firms your experience will be limited to the experience and quality of the sales rep assigned to you. 

Any tips or pitfalls to avoid?

I'll hopefully pick up some quality  reading material, and start absorbing information from there.  

We aired it out for days, sanded down the wood floors and resurfaced them, cleaned and painted the walls, and used odorxit AQM, and managed to clear the stench. 

Roof size approx 2700sq feet- gaf woodland lifetime designer shingles (gives the slate look similar to what's on the house) - If I choose plain architectural shingles, I'll save 2k- TPO PVC flat roof over 10x30 extension- soffit & fascia repair and replace where necessary (some of the soffit wood has gotten rotten and would need to be replaced)- chose copper valley instead of aluminum (said I'll save $500 if going with aluminium)- plywood mostly in very good condition because of great original quality of the wood (said I'll probably only need 3 sheets replaced)- replace downspouts where necessary, maybe he'll replace 1-2- install cobra ridge vent