A four unit can never generate enough revenue to get a professional management company (neither can my 20 unit honestly), so you are stuck with what you are seeing. 

I've discovered that:They only work with industrial and/or retail (and seem curious/surprised why I'm investigating apartments)They are the listing agents for properties in the area (it is a sellers market where I live).Being a first time investor, I'd like to have a trusted professional in my corner; using a listing agent (at least to me) represents a conflict of interest.Should I be cold calling firms outside of my immediate locale, such as major cities nearby (or national)? 

My experience is in professional property management, at A+/luxury caliber apartment buildings where expectations are high.

Here is what I got when I tried to post Jacob's phone number: Posting contact details such as phone numbers or email addresses outside the Marketplace is prohibited.I have a friend, Jacob Mejia, at Ameridream who may be able to help. 

I spoke with 3-4, and the fact this company really brought passion and enjoyed their work was obvious in our phone call in their tone of voice, level of detail and the owner's personality.

You can even do some of this yourself, but you probably will miss a lot of things if you don't have a professional assisting you.Best of luck!

The seller produces a document showing there is no leak (i think by a professional).

Make sure you talk to your tax professional. 

The advice I would give is to find some wholesalers to source deals for you, source your own deals via direct mail or phone calls, and also work with your agent on identifying deals and crunching the numbers to make sure they really work before writing any offers or contacting the seller to see if an offer can be made at whatever price you are thinking of offering.You and your agent should be a team and should be working together on doing what's best for both of you.

I don't want to stutter and stumble on the phone with a realtor because I can't answer her questions.