Figure out who you are and compare that to the personality needed for out of state investing.

The situation you have described above does not involve either securities or people with no prior relationship.

Now days, if you're looking in the 300k range, unless you're a disabled Vet, that freakin crushing 3+ points in VA Funding Fee for a "multi - user" borrower, which gets stacked/ financed on top of the loan, that you also pay interest on too, is not always the best way to go.I just started following the Military Investors on BP as prior I haven't ventured out of the Florida Real Estate Q&A forum on BP. 

TenantCloud and Cozy are both free solutions for managing the rental books and are probably easier to maintain compared to email. 

Duplexes are residential and are valued based on comparative sales

Understand the fees involved and calculate the total cost for an entire year of management so you can compare the different managers.

This means that I should set aside a significantly higher percent of my money for these compared to what i'm paying for a down payment.

Feel free to message me anytime and we can compare notes as we both investigate & learn.Chris

With this only being 10 days into your agreement and it sounds like there may be an issue with the electrical outlet, which would need to be fixed prior to renting it again, my recommendation is to try and work it out with the tenant for the remainder of the month and see how everything goes before giving notice. 

Of course, Hard Money is higher but hopefully there is a win/win compared with the slow pace of Banks.