I'd rather stay out of the way and let professionals do their thing.  

An experienced property manager should minimize vacancy, increase income, and have connections with contractors and other professionals to manage your property well to maximize your return on investment.To Your Success!

I would like to think in a way that investment in general, and the real estate investment, start with a solid economic reason - "Why do you Invest, where you invested".To elaborate on below - Vegas is a great example where no real economic driver exists and when you invest there, you should be aware that is a highly volatile market (side note: i both 2 properties there in 2011 and 2012 and i sold both this year) and you should pay an extra attention and be prepare to reposition capital.It's clear, if you invest in Vegas or Orlando (just 2x entertainment cities) you will expect ups and downs and you need to position yourself with extra reserves and extra caution if you are planning to stay in these market for long term. 

Especially if you market your work as a professional and charge accordingly.

In addition to tangible screening such as credit checks, evictions, criminal background, & income checks consider intangibles as well - how well do they communicate with you & how professional?

We have a wide range of investors and RE professionals join us.

Being fairly new to land lording I felt the need to gather a bit more insight from other seasoned professional with how to proceed, but you're absolutely right. 

Always spot on and professional! 

We have seen that having a professional marketing piece builds credibility which is invaluable in this business. 

I am happy to hop on a call to share more of my local expertise and if you're still looking for professional property management, I can talk to you more about that.