They are located either in the mountains or with mountain views and are extremely rural.

But it would make it extremely complicated for the person to manage it. 1.

Currently we have a 78 year old property manager who makes 10% of the rent for doing everying....He is adverse to technology so sharing the work load with him through turbo tenant usage is not possible.  

Having a tenant will limit the usage for many prospects and likely make it difficult to schedule showings. 

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.

Every item has a lifespan and collecting maintenance/replacement costs should start as soon as an item is put into service.There are lenders that will provide HELOC on rental properties but they are not extremely easy to find.  

An extremely overlooked method here is to open up listed rentals on zillow in your target market and call any landlords that don't appear to be listed as an agent or property management company.

Verifying last 2 years of rental history and income extremely important to find the “best of the worst”.Make sure you understand the Class of properties you are looking at

I really see Columbus Ohio as an extremely safe bet for the next 10-20 years.

I am an out of state investor in Indy and recently got my offer accepted but the lender is now offering an extremely high rate 6.375% with a 3.5% discount rate for $3,172.