Hello BiggerPockets community!

I’m gearing up to purchase my very first multifamily property. looking in the Midwest, and my budget is around 600K. At this point, it is just me myself and I and I’ve hit a major crossroads and could use some collective wisdom!

Here is my dilemma: I 100% do not want to be a day-to-day landlord, but I am incredibly wary of hiring a traditional property management company. Between the setup fees, lease-up fees, and the "surprise" maintenance markups.

This has me wondering if there is a hybrid middle ground.

For those of you who scale without traditional PMs: Have any of you successfully "self-managed" by building your own dedicated team of contractors/handymen, cleaners, leasing agents, software (I assume I am missing some!)?

If you’ve taken this route, I’d love to know:

- How do you handle emergencies? Do you have a go-to contact who acts as the "on-call" person? Where do you find them?

- What tech/software are you using to automate rent collection and maintenance requests so you stay hands-off?

-  Is it actually cheaper and less stressful than just biting the bullet and vetting a great PM company?

Would love to hear your horror stories, success stories, or any advice you have for a newbie trying to protect their margins without losing their sanity!

Thanks in advance!