My soldering skills are approximately good enough to do 0.1 inch pitch pins about 90% of the time, which isn't really good enough for surface-mount, and most modern microprocessors don't come in anything else.
Solder stencils are also easy enough to create, especially if you have access to a laser cutter.
Are there any hackerspaces near where you live?
http://www.popsci.com/article/diy/build-diy-soldering-stenci...
https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/59
Cheap PET stencils are available from OSH Stencils and SMT Stencil. For small boards, it's not difficult to dispense solder paste by hand with a syringe. The application doesn't need to be precise if you're using a board with a solder mask - surface tension does the hard work for you.
https://www.oshstencils.com/pricing.php http://www.smtstencil.co.uk/
Just don't use lead free solder.
The biggest problem I see with hand soldering is people not using enough flux (get a no-clean flux pen, they're amazing) and then just blaming the solder when they can't get it to flow... Reflow will do similar if you let the flux dry out (keep it in the fridge - I often put it in a zip-lock bag to try and really keep moisture out also).
I've never actually used them but their online tooling is impressive, they have reasonable prices for low quantity assembly, and they've manufactured and fulfilled a few kickstarter projects.