Go to Etsy and search for "rental property tracker," and you will find hundreds of nice spreadsheets to track 10-20 rentals, usually for under $10.Software has extremely helpful features like online payments, marketing syndication (click a button, and your property is advertised on multiple sites), electronic document review/signing, maintenance tracking, and owner reports.

I would be happy to assist with you questions and concerns about Section 8.

I am not familiar with Horn Lake and the economic conditions you mentioned as a CON, but if you already have those concerns, on top of a large rehab, which typically don't shrink as you get started, and being OOS and needing a PM team, you may want to consider other options as you get started. 

For example, if a home has an accurate value and list price of $450,000 and I can get if for $400,000 (because of incentives and timing), and it sells for $490,000 three years later, I am not as concerned with a monthly break even cash flow scenario.- Some builders aren't as friendly to investorsI hope that helps.Thank you so much!

Remember the purpose of a proforma is to determine if a deal pencils broadly, so getting extremely granular doesn't add anything useful.

But it's extremely common here for new folks to come on BP with broad stroke questions, without realizing the forum is a searchable database of scores of common questions with a plethora of answers already posted.Mike

There is almost always a market for a going business concern with a positive cash flow.  

My main concern about actual house hacking for a few years in a row is that we don't want the kiddos to have to change schools once we relocate up there.I'm thinking about getting an appreciation-oriented duplex/triplex in a pricier market with good schools that we could stay in for several years, and saving for an actual cashflow property that'd we buy as an investment property instead of a house hack.

Our bigger concern is how might we get our money from the guy?

However, I have helped a couple people with extremely basic home layouts when they were in the process of remodeling their home.