Apart from your suggestion, I'm not sure there is any good way around that until I have a solid contact in most of the regions.I should also add that while there is occasionally a delicate balance that has to happen to avoid a conflict of interest, I prefer the listing broker/agent because they have the most information and are only 1 step removed from the seller.

But I am self managing a few rentals in Hawaii, so I still get the occasional call from tenants for small repairs.

There are some deals in Los Angeles, San Diego, and, occasionally, Orange County, but the best "bang for the buck" is the Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) and up in the high desert areas of Victorville and Apple Valley.Hope this helps.

Heck,  my friends were always hanging-out but i was able to hang out occasionally because i Had to work. 

There are occasional exceptions to this but not many.

@Kelly Williams Occasionally if you know your market really well and have a responsive Realtor you may come across a steaming hot deal that for whatever reason no one else sees or that you can get an inside edge on.

@Ashley Pimsner, We run into this occasionally. 

Occasionally..... we FB the owner.

Now, as long as I check in occasionally to make sure expenses are going in the right category, I can easily total up certain types of expenses.

I guess it can happen but as real estate goes I think this is by far the hardest thing to put together sustain and be profitable at.. other than a side hustle make some money occasionally if you darn lucky type thing.. folks I know that do this successfully spend probably 100 to 200k Minimum a year in mailers ALONE  and they have teams that door knock that get paid and Very robust back end systems.. etc etc.. this is a capital intensive business to do right..