Why do these companies feel like they need to charge so much, especially upfront?

If it were me, I would go after listings with big, national management companies. 

Hello BP, How are PM companies finding properties to manage and what are investors looking for in a property management company?

We're hoping to rent a unit to an employee of a company- Basically, the company is assuming the costs of the rental and paying for it for their employee to stay in it.

His company is Bullseye Real Estate We've used him mostly for small scale repairs, i.e. build a bathroom, repair the roofing, patch drywall, paint, kitchen install, masonry repair (front steps) etc.

If you haven't caught up, here's the tl;dr - I acquired a bunch of properties last year with a turn key company called Own It Detroit.

(Investigate the presence of Fortune 100 companies and industry diversity, using resources like metropolitan council reports and broker websites (e.g., CBRE, Colliers).)Affordability: Ensure household income has grown at least 1% YoY for the past 20 years.

Thus, I want to work with each specialized company separately. 

I agree with you that it’ll be a hassle to drive all the up to Saginaw to do the maintenance and I did not find any property management company there.

Once those guys are in place and you have a go-to title company that your realtor recommends and a lawyer.