I hired an Excel coder off Fiverr and told them what I wanted.

But if there are enough bedrooms or you get multiple homes, you will be able to support hiring a local manager to manage daily operations. 

I was ignored many times then finally going around my rep there at Reedys I was able to get some information and then it went silent. 

Hire an attorney and have the tenants evicted.

Hiring Specialized Talent: Hire or contract experts in different areas, such as legal, finance, construction, marketing, and property management.

It requires a higher down payment and remote management, which can be harder without a strong team.House hacking with a VA loan is better for hands-on management; DSCR is great if you're ready to start from a distance.From a tax perspective, if you intend to qualify as REPS or have material participation in STR, being overseas will prevent that.

On the other hand, I feel one of the main advantages of passive investments (via syndication/crowdfunding) is that I can hire a manager who has years more experience than I can ever hope to obtain myself.

Hire a property manager ASAP.

Im repping a lot of buyers right now and I am seeing basically 6.5-7.5. 

We're talking about title company reps, real estate transaction attorneys, SEC attorneys (yeah, the fancy ones), insurance agents, and lenders who make magic happen.