So main lesson is get a rock star agent or if you find yourself in my shoes ask your agent-friend to get a Rockstar agent to partner with them to split the commission on your purchase.

Worked out all the issues and am now churning out five star reviews, learned some lessons for the future!

I will let you guess which side supported King George and which supported the "Colonist Rebels".... ....... this is often the point where a person starts starring into space wondering just who in the heck it is they've been pandering for all this time, lol......

Referrals are not gold stars for contractors.

The important point being that "S" people are smart and self-reliant but have a very hard time delegating - they're using to being the "star" - and it ends up hurting them because you just can't do everything and you do actually need a team to have anything other than meager success (in my experience).I only mention it because 1) several of your comments (Angel) sound like they relate to those themes, and 2) I suffer from the same problem and constantly fight against it in my own head.Finally, unless you have gotten a lot of experience with real estate in your own area / back yard first, I would be cautious about spending a lot of money in an out of state investment.

Write an appropriate, factual 1-star review about him on Yelp, Google, Yellow Pages, Angie's List, etc. 3.

Set it a little under market to start with so that you can get those 5 star reviews rolling in. 

The key is having a rock star contractor you can trust, a good property manager, and boots on the ground who know the area. 

And this guest gave us a 5 Star review!

His techniques flat out work and I give him a 5 star recommendation!