New to real estate investing

[Austin Dumbaugh]

I am 25 and in the phase of educating myself about the real estate world while also saving money to purchase my first rental property. I live in a small rural college town in Ohio so the local options are limited to single family homes or a duplex at most rented to college students. I believe in the multi family approach to get more doors under 1 roof . This is limited in my town, approximately 2 hours away are Columbus and Dayton larger markets and more opportunists for multi family properties. I am nervous to buy these in the future and depend on a periphery management company to oversee my properties for me? Is it just a matter of picking the right company ? Or am I safer to just buy single family homes in my town in order to managed myself? I feel being away from my properties and reliant on property managers is risky to start with? 

[Kiera Underwood]

@Austin Dumbaugh I've seen hundreds of investors have success with property managers. You've just got to vet your providers. Ask them to talk to a couple of investors that they manage for. Read reviews. I wouldn't go for the bottom of the barrel cheap. In my market, it really seems to be that you get what you pay for. The best property manager I know (in OKC sorry I can't help in OH) charges 10% of rent per month and the whole first month's rent to put a new tenant in place. That said I've carefully evaluated other property managers and it's easy for me to see that the investors using the more expensive up front option are saving money and time because they have low/no cleanup costs more than what's typical at turnover.