This was long and painful.

Congrats on the place in Denver - I can only imagine what a pain it's been waiting for the property to be built but I'm sure it will pay off (literally) once it's up and running as an STR!

It's a pain putting together the boots/eyes on the ground and self-manage. 

Accounting for the cost of selling 12%, realtor fees 5% ish, 25% recapture tax which is not adjusted by inflation (the longer you hold it, the more painful the tax will be), and CAPEX, the profits by selling a buy and hold are low. 

Do your HW on the front-end to prevent pain down the road.8.)

By doing so, you can avoid a lot of pain and effort and greatly increase your chance of success.

Find out their pain: Do they dislike their current manager or hate managing it themselves?

Are they a pain?

Installing glass block window, but a contractor told me they're a pain inside a shower and not worth the expense - and again, I would have to have tile/grout, and that might get nasty with tenants3.

Are these tenants a pain, calling the owner often, damaging property, etc, or is it case by case where it strictly depends on that tenant.