The way I think about it is the value of your time vs. the value of learning.Hiring a property management company (theoretically) saves you time.Self-managing facilitates learning and (hopefully) automating your processes.I don't think that one is necessarily more valuable than the other - it's more a question of what's most valuable to you.

There are some great options out there which can help you by breaking out those fees, and also offers automated maintenance tracking, and fast rent collection (via ACH or debit/credit card).

Another great way to automate.

In my 'perfect world' mind, I would be able to open that workbook and begin evaluating any given market because; a) First and foremost, it would be very user friendly b) It would be heavily automated through the use of formulas and/or macros that would provide easy to follow and understand prompts and solutions.c) Would be designed such that it would accept user entered data that, either as you went long or by the time you reached the end, you would receive flags of some sort that would provide a status of that market as a potential investment market (such as 'You're golden here!'

(I also read that it's important to message as many outlets as possible, email, text, voicemail, don't be annoying, be friendly)Due today:"This is a automated friendly reminder that the rent is due today, please leave the check on the counter as soon as possible to avoid late fees."

Can anyone recommend a good website or online instrument that helps buy and hold investors analyze properties geographically.

This can be automated either from your bank account by setting up reoccurring payments or then by going into the Mortgage companies website and automating the monthly payment there.  

.- the homeowner next door not liking renters however I wouldn't want to place bad tenants eitherI don't know that this would be a strategy to propel me towards my investing goals however if the numbers are great they may be instrumental along the way.

There are also automated alerts you can set up that will email you listings based on keywords you set up.  

Everything in my portfolio is now fully amortized and automated.