The part that I can see being the most beneficial to us, personally, is the "REI Hub" which is the accounting piece that you can opt to pay for as part of your monthly subscription.

I'm a passive investor and these properties are in a different state than I reside in so I'm not there in person often. 

I want to start smart and scale up as I learn the ropes, but I’m personally struggling to narrow down which area to focus on.If you’ve done this before, what advice would you give someone like me?

I have a feeling this is designed to maximize retention of now dislocated persons. 

Yes I have known it to work because the owner is not a push over, enforces policy and can make it run good......however, do you have the right personality to do this, AND if you move out can you continue to have the house run smoothly with no one in charge.  

All lights were green and there was a pileup, leaving behind a mess of twisted metal and broken glass, and a few personal injuries to boot.The syndicator crowd coined the phrase "survive until '25" under the hope that by 2025 interest rates would correct and their deals would be fine. 

I personally started in my local real estate market in Columbus Ohio.

I have a bank locally that will use DOT as collateral for loans.

Is 10-15 miles too big of an area when determining the unit count per person?

Mortgage lenders will qualify you for a higher purchase amount for multis than they would on a single, because they will count the rent you will be making on the other units as additional qualifying income for your loan application.