Need real estate agent and property management advice 

It's good you are doing drive-bys, but spreadsheet analysis for house hacking won't get you very far until you see what you have to manage, if the utilities are separated, and you see the tenant next door's upkeep irl.

Put $60,000 into a 1,200 sq ft managers office where you will live.  

Hello community, I've just joined up to learn all I can about real estate investing and property management. 

I would not send a letter I would call or find someone on LinkedIn Thank you for that advice I have found that one of the Owners (maybe a partner GP/LP) is involved with a property management company in the area.

I manage my sign company and do lending full time. 

We managed to make a friend or two along the way.

Managing expenses for a short-term rental property using spreadsheets is a great start.

Property management contractor is about 15% higher vs a contractor I found.How does one go about refusing to use their contractor and payment.

Investing locally you can self manage.