If you invite the government into your business, you get the good and the bad.2) In my experience,(and I may get some hate mail for this) the average section 8 resident is harder on the property. 

If you think the market will get better in the next few years it might be better to hold onto it.

I'd message the sponsor and tell them you'll be traveling to the area and it'd be nice to get a brief tour to see progress.

Easy to get someone on the phone, which is a big one for me and something I am willing to pay a reasonable premium for.

I’m a firefighter up in Massachusetts and I’m looking at getting started in real estate investing too.

It's a learning experience to find out it may not be the case - and a good question to ask in the future.From an owners point of view I feel interest should be aligned and PM's get paid parallel to owners. 

@Stephen Branagan 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.

If we plan to rent to a commercial tenant in the future then should we opt for commercial property insurance now, or just homeowner insurance and then change to commercial once that space is ready to be rented?  

Property Taxes just have to be paid and that is fairly direct but getting a lien released from the IRS is seeming much more difficult does any one have any experience with this type of situation.

Currently working on my credit and saving some more but should be ready in a year or less.