I’m looking to hear about people’s experiences with owning a home and then moving to a different state, then having a property management company handle the rental for them (while they’re in the other state.) I would really like to buy a cheap house in Nashville right now, but it would honestly be contingent on that particular scenario being an option 2-3 years down the road. I do know a very good property management company that does this exact thing, and I’ve known the owner for 11 years. The thing is that I’d like to get actual stories from people who have done this, though. All opinions welcome! 
We’ve owned a house in the states for 11 years. It has been rented for 10 years and 3 months of this time when we lived out of the country. We hired a property manager after interviewing 4 of them. In our state they HAVE to be a licensed realtor to manage properties and we wanted the extra protection of having a ‘name’ realtor co. managing it.
We pay a percentage of the monthly rent to them which is taken off of the rent paid by the tenant. In our case, we have the management company pay other things out of the rent also(taxes, water,lawn service)
The contract is an extensive one, listing all parties responsibilities. We’ve been very lucky …so far.
FWIW it helps that the state is very pro property owner.
Well, in Tennessee, I’m continually astounded by what landlords can get away with. So I think it’s likely the same situation here. That’s one of the big reasons I’m buying a house, in fact… I got very tired of doing ALL the repairs, since they just weren’t going to get done otherwise. 
Anyway, it’s really helpful to read that experience. Thanks.
We have a 3-house property in Hawaii and got quotes from a property manager or two before reaching an agreement with an individual to manage for us. Financially we’re probably paying more, but there are a number of benefits: we receive extremely personalized care and feedback, far more than an impersonal company would give. It’s nice for the tenants too because they get help; in one case, shortly after a couple moved to HI and rented from us, the husband died suddenly. The wife knew no one on the Big Island except the RE agent and the property manager. The manager and his mom helped her a lot.
That’s the most dramatic instance I can think of, but over the past 4-5 years while we’ve had this arrangement I know there have been many times when this more personal agreement has worked to our advantage. Of course, it is a big risk and we’ve been lucky. (We had some assurance going into the relationship that he had the skills needed – he’d been doing more or less the same thing for the previous property owner, and he and his mom had run a B&B for a number of years.)