Ultimately, it's your decision, and as long as you are making the best decision possible to mitigate the risk, you can't go wrong.

I decided to purchase instead of rent and I am really happy with my decision as salt lake is seeing some great appreciation. 

What other factors or conditions influence your decisions?

Sometimes you make these decisions once you’re into the process.

Buying the property correct is important and I just add my management fees into the equation and make buying decisions with that in mind.The other thought that I had was that I've learned a lot of management lessons by watching my property management deal with stuff that I would have had to if it were mine alone.  

So here is my advice, interview a number, I'd say 4 or 5, ask if you can attend their weekly meetings - that will tell you much more than any interview questions you may have, because they are all trained to answer them really well.This is a big decision, worth it to take some time

Who makes mgmt decisions?

I think it makes sense i get some percentage higher than 50, or a flat fee, but i want to be equitable in coming to the decision.

The problem is the amounts are all over the place between all sources and I wan to make sure I'm using correct numbers; I usually run a worst-case scenario just in case I need to rent ASAP and make a decision based on that number.

If I was starting from scratch and did not have enough money to both contribute to a 401k and invest in RE, it might be a tough decision.