Passive VS Active Multi-Family Investing

[John Allen]

Hi Everyone! First post :-)

I found Bigger Pockets about a month ago and have been listening to podcasts, reading the forums, and reading books.  Wife and I are looking to build a plan where real estate investments can work for us and allow us to retire from our current jobs and have more time and freedom to enjoy life (aren't we all...).  We are in Columbus, OH area.

Multi-family seems like the way to go in order to take advantage of economies of scale.  A close relative has owned and managed rentals for years in Columbus so we have some connection and knowledge of duplex thru 4-family units, however, to truly benefit from the scale of multi-family it seems we should probably go bigger than 4-family.   

Wondering what others think about passive versus active investing?  We are accredited investors and could buy into a professionally managed syndicate for large multi-family (Paul Moore's Wellings Capital?) or we could look for a small (<12 units) multi-family to purchase and start scaling into active investment in this area.

Welcome any insights and things to consider - especially any firsthand experience evaluating these and reasons for choosing what you did. 

Thx!

John