Quote from @Katie Cooke: As new, out-of-state real estate investors with two duplexes in Dayton, Ohio, we are seeking guidance on the appropriate level of involvement with our property management (PM) company.

I run a PM company here in Cincinnati and we’ve worked with a bunch of out-of-state investors, especially folks from Cali looking for solid rental returns.Totally agree with what you’re trying to do, getting a handle on neighborhood-level trends before buying is key.

I knew some of the Peer Street management.  

Hello @Maxwell Wuensch,Remote renovations can work very well when managed properly.

You are in a good place because it seems like investors (especially out of town investors) are on here all the time asking for recommendations for a good property management company in the Cincy area, and they don't get many responses.

It's a big decision to self-manage.

Over the last decade we have dealt with over a dozen property managers in several markets.  

Hi Danny, I'm sorry you're going through that but I going to layout somethings and some you may not like to hear but really it's just so that we can take a step back and look at this, for reference I don't know of Evernest property management and have no idea of what they do, I'm going off of purely what you provided here: 1) Squatters: "After evicting a tenant, they allowed squatters to move in, who caused $17,000 in damages."

Get a property management system that is API connected (software connected) to both Airbnb and VRBO (and Google Vacation, booking.com, etc)That will become the mitochondria of the business. any update you make in the PMS will reflect in your listing for the other platforms (channel manager).Each of the booking platforms have different fees collected so you'll adjust the management fee in the system so that you get a similar payout.I use JURNY, a little known system that's I've used for 2 years to manage nearly 20 properties. but I love it because it connects to Autohost so I get automated leases sent out for signature (yes, even on Airbnb and VRBO) along with ID collection, SELFIE, credit card deposit and then the AI tool kicks in and detects for fraud. 

Some say you should always self-manage in the beginning to learn the ropes, while others recommend hiring a property manager right away to save time and stress.For those of you with experience, which path did you take?