Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Your concerns are well founded.Ask them for their lending license number and some references and which escrow and title company they use.

I recently met with the owner of a property management company.

Also check out Paige Hays Company that teaches and helps other woman start their STR design company.

Many companies charge a % of total rent, but for homes with a low overall rent they either won't manage it at all, or they move it to a flat $ amount, which is typically rather large as a percentage of rental income. 

To provide some context, she initially approached our company to manage her HOA.

We recently had a unique offer from an elderly care company to rent our home to operate their business out of.

Account Closed is correct, absolutely do both.. especially if youre just starting out even Grant Cardone started with a SFR. but for the sake of his question lets say you have 100k saved up for a real estate endeavor TOTAL, and you find a SFR that fits the 1% ratio (100k house that brings in 1k rent) that is doable if you calculate it out that would equal a 8.2% cash on cash IF it stays at a 90% occupancy rate. on the other hand if you invest that 100k into a limited partnership with a company that invests in value add apartments will now your cash on cash can be a preferred 10% with a target of 16-20% IRR which would essentially double your money in 2-5 years.. in this scenario the SFR would take sweat equity from you and risk while only returning a measly 8% CoC while the MF would be completely passive allowing you to learn and grow without hindrance with a 10% CoCnow we are over simplifying but I hope this made sense.. cuz my brain hurts ;D

HAve you had any good experience with any company?

I have a separate company, Tax ID and account set up for my short term rental company.