Even with the travel and prep costs, if you fill the units quickly and screen tenants carefully, it can be cheaper than a full‑service manager.

We charge our tenants a flat fee for simplicity, $50/month for 1 bed units, sometimes it doesn't cover but we don't care, it's a lot of work to bill exact usage because PWD doesn't let you switch billing to tenants. 

There are SO many areas you need knowledge, if not expertise, in for every aspect of RE investment.The laws- LL/Tenant; Fair Housing; Fair Credit Reporting Act; Servicemembers Credit Relief Act; Licensing requirements for various workers; Insurance (property, liability, and potentially Worker's Comp); IRS codes related to the type of investment you plan to get into; Accounting Best Practices; Background Screening; at least the fundamentals of Construction and the various Systems typical to the type of properties in the area you plan to operate in; laws and rules applicable to operating as a Business (LLC, Partnerships, or other legal entities); Contract law; and the list goes on...Trying to learn all, or most of this AFTER buying a property, is risky at best, foolish at worst.

The most efficient and cost-effective approach might be to find a very local real estate attorney who will get this done at a flat rate.

I've used it for quick initial screening - saves time vs manually pulling comps on every lead.

To take your new bulletproof process a step further and weed out these bad actors before they even pay an application fee, I advise my clients to implement a strict, automated pre-screening hurdle that requires applicants to submit their basic criteria just to book a showing.

There have been many folks who have expressed interest in my rental properties that have screened themselves out after checking their FB accounts (i.e., folks who say they have no pets but post pictures of pitbulls chained up in the back yard and comments that puppies are available for only $600 a pup and, sadly, women who post pictures of themselves that appear to imply they charge by the hour).

ARV x profit (you want to make) - Repairs (scope of work to get to ARV) = Max Allowable Offer (MAO)Ensuring hiring a great leasing agent that has good leasing experience and does a thorough screening process is always worth the money vs going with the cheaper option.

But remember, you sacrificed appreciation, which there is always 100% of the time a reason for flat, low, no or negative appreciation.

Flat rents, higher insurance/taxes, and exit caps that are wider than acquisition caps.