Owning just a couple of single family rentals can be annoying/time intensive until you grow big enough to economically scale to complete automation...

About me - I'm an IT web programmer of many years helping companies automate business processes. 

I definitely can't afford an American answering service/ call center yetI have a couple numbers set up-- 1 for property management, tenant calls, potential tenants and another for lead generation, buying commercial properties, contractors, vendors etcOne thing that's driving me nuts and confusing me is I have both numbers routing to my iPhone and GV doesn't tell me which number it's calling from to take, nor if it's a non- RE call directly to my iPhone.Anyways I'm thinking of the following VoIPs which can also integrate into direct marketing, Virtual Assistants (VAs- for this I've been searching Upwork and see rates at $6-7 for english speakers), and in the future implement a CRM (I currently use Buildium for tenants and Excel/ PropertyRadar for acquisitions and leads).What are the best VoIP/ GV alternatives?

I have yet to find a good API or payment software that can be implemented into a basic website.

Are appraisals always necessary? Check out the article here.https://therealdeal.com/2017/06/23/are-home-apprai...

@Jonas LaPointe Liquidated Damages AND contract/fund termination will motivate them to come and fix it FAST, especially with escrow, they are a neutral company, if its there, they will implement it, you don't have to feel guilty taking their money. hehe.

My goal is to go ALL IN with real estate while i am here and work as hard as necessary to achieve my goal and to have my marketing business automated as much as possible on the side.

I sometimes require list of subs and suppliers, but rarely, if I don't implement a daily sign-in sheet.

They are happy and ultimately we are happy.The best part is that in San Diego I was managing my own properties and now a professional property management company is implementing our plan.  

if you implement the cost savings idea, be sure that you approve of any materials, processes or procedures before they are bought/implemented.