I would prefer to have it done professionally, however since we are a small start up, capital is key right now and I keep thinking that we might be better served spending the additional $750 elsewhere.Am I being unwise to consider doing it myself, especially since other parties will be involved or is it not that big of a deal to do it on my own?

Vacancies can be months.The key is the properties must be very cheap.  

The key is to mail the list 6 time over the course of a year. 

Which our tenants did not have at the time of the leak.Going forward:  Waiting for a call back from the insurance company to see if it is possible and cost to increase the mold mitigation cap on the policy for any future claims.Changing the wording of the Renter's Insurance clause in the lease to state proof of coverage with the landlord listed as an interest is required within 48 hours after the lease is signed, prior to the keys being handed over.  

I am very interested in purchasing tax liens, fix and flips and turn key rentals ( where there's a property manager in place).  

Every component of a rental has a marketing message.

This has been a learning experience and so far my key takeaways are:I don’t want a second job as a property managerI don’t want to be a general contractorI'm a bad CPAI love it when other people do work for me.I currently reside in Santa Monica and would like to own in this area, but I’m heavily leaning towards outside markets for higher long term cash flow.

Welcome Ali, I live in California as well and was recently given the opportunity to purchase a turn key in Az.

It's like getting the keys to the kingdom.

For example, you set up key word alerts. http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts