These are facts that support my argument that your IRR push is not nearly as viable as the much more accurate calculation of cash flow and cash on cash. 

Hopefully you will have no trouble finding one that support you with strong staff, marketing and training.

Can the area support rent increases?

He probably has the infrastructure to be able to support your investing there if that has become your target area.10% is pretty standard for a property management fee, and they should handle a lot of the time consuming tenant interactions.

I feel my knowledge of estimating renovation costs is pretty good (as we have done some flips) and have a good support for second opinions.  

I would suggest investing in obtaining bids for all needed repairs that can be used to negotiate down their value amount.Ocwen is usually very good at considering documentation to support a lower value.

You might not be ready to start if your financials dont support it, but age has nothing to do with not being ready.  

I signed up for paid advertising on Loopnet a few years ago, right before they merged with CoStar. 

thanks for all those comments I really like the support and the good vibe from you guys! 

I’ve found that if you have a regular 8-5 job, managing a project that may be more than 15-30 min away from where you typically are during the day, is hard to do…unless you’re working with someone (partner or contractor) that you trust and can provide that support for you.