Most big box companies rely on an onsite manager. 

So that made it a little scary, because all I had to rely on was a few books and tapes.

They rely on a mixture of public data which is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed to be accurate.

I had just been relying on the online info, I'll go down there and check it out!!

This Seller needs some hand-holding and adult supervision that I can't provide from thousands of miles away. 

What you're looking for (besides the mentor) are:1) Support tools for research and creating collateral like proposals for listings2) Marketing by the firm to get name familiarity and drive business in the door (don't rely on that though).

Also, the property management fee 8-10%, plus 15% maintenance fee - if they call the repairman or something, they tack on 15% to the repairman's bill, plus a yearly fee of $250 or a lease renewal fee of $250, adds up to a lot, especially because you are relying so much on the turnkey management since you are so far away. 

Don't just rely on the Better Business Bureau, but look at the other review sites so that you can put together a comprehensive picture of what doing business with the lender is like.If the company has a rating below a 4, you may want to ask yourself why that is.  

People saying they’re going to stay two years is great, but you never know what’s going to happen so I wouldn’t rely too much on what they tell you know.

When I was at the house for repairing the two toilets and replacing garbage disposal her adult son told me that he would buy a faucet and I said that would be fine.