我需要请律师吗？suggestion needed

I have a single family house rented to a black woman and her family. She was rude to me when I visited the property. also she brougt lots of trouble to me. The following is the story.

She refused to pay rent two month ago and complained the electricity was not working well. My property manager has sent several people to fix the problem. but the tenant told us the problem is still not totally fixed. After she didn't pay the rent for two month. I asked my property manager to file the eviciton one month ago.

Now my property manager told me that after we filed the eviction, the tenant 反诉 to the court and complained the she didn't pay the rent due to the electricity problem and want us to pay $2000 back to her for her loss. My property manager told me we need to set a court day next. Also my property manager asked me to hire a lawyer to represent me in the court and I need to pay $1500 beforehead for the lawyer fee. I am not sure if I should hire a lawyer and my property manager think I should hire a lawyer to get more chance of winning . What should I do next? I have several options now.

1: Hire a lawyer, pay the $1500 lawyer fee or more lawyer fee in the future.
2, I am a remote landlord, need to fly to California and present in the court day myself.
3, could the property manager represent me in the court day? she told me she couldn't , only lawyer and myself could present in the court day.

Any ideas? Thanks.