As it is I have an account for each house, I have it on autopay and I don't have to monitor it or worry about it.   

I would probably start monthly or bi-weekly "safety inspections" to A) document any lack of evidence of risks/issues to the tenant's safety to be prepared to legally defend yourself in the future, and B) to monitor for new/worsening damage to the unit.

However, I have not built my team yet (real estate agent, lender, property manager), and I’m not sure about owning a property I cannot visit and monitor myself, given my inexperience as an investor.Economic Outlook: I’m a bit concerned about the economic outlook but can hold onto the property even with lower rent.My Questions:1- Should I sell the property now and look for better deals, considering the declining market trends and my decreasing cash flow?

From what I can tell, FTF did a poor job of monitoring the progress of the project and released funds to the developer when they shouldn't have.  

If so, that is exponentially more challenging than staying local and will require a great deal of dedicated time to mitigate the high risk: researching sub-markets and neighborhoods in your target area, visiting the area (probably more than once) before buying, interviewing PMs, assembling team in your target market, connecting with local investors (joining the local REAI is a good start), and building processes to monitor everything effectively from a long distance (which might require instructing your PM to customize the information they provide to you).You are really going to need a very trustworthy associate in your target market to make sure you don't get screwed over, especially on the rehab.

Monitor the topic for updates.  

Don't get me wrong, there are some great VAs out there, but you have to find them, train them, monitor them and pay them well for them to produce anything above mediocre results. 

More property owners should understand that rentals are NOT a passive investment like mutual funds.Issues to Monitor (politely)1) Monthly P&L Report - if they don't consistently send it around same day each month, they are not organized and it doesn't bode well overall2) Monthly Owner Draws - should come about same day each month, hopefully via ACH, with statement showing how calculated3) Maintenance - question EVERYTHING! 

Hello, We have come up with a way to digitally monitor the electricity use of each unit and email them each the bill every month.

security system and ongoing monitoring.