(which I like) so I would like someone with local experience rather than be the farthest flung property for a city-focused PM (if they'd even do it) and potentially become neglected or incur higher costs because of distance and/or unfamiliarity.A little help?

Finishes and design are huge for this level of buyer. 

You'll want to make sure you understand the K1/tax filing implications because if you own very small piece of let's say 10 properties in 10 different states you would potentially receive 10 K1s (one for each deal) and 'may' have tax filing requirements in 10 states. 

For example, if you find a PM that uses a 600+ credit score minimum for the portfolio they manage and you want 700+ then you are allowing the PM to follow less strict guidelines and opening you home to greater risk.For the marketing side of things, I'd recommend using Zillow, Apartments.com, Redfin, and Facebook for potential word of mouth in your sphere.

Secondly, The buyer did not want them, at all!

If that's not of interest to you then I recommend continuing to build up your capital, improve your credit, and potentially partner with someone.

No one plans for that, but potential reality in today's world if that is the case.I ran the numbers and then had a nice guru run the numbers of 401k vs cash money and the net outcome was about the same from what I remember. 

We found a single family house that is $260,000 below market, after further inquiry, we discovered the house has a renter which the seller wants the new buyer to evict.

I think it should definitely be done prior to the tenant moving in though to avoid a potentially problematic situation.

I use it on all bookings, on and off platform because they don't ask the guest to pay the damages which avoids potentially strained interactions and therefore retaliation reviews.