That said, we have seen the following work:An attorney prepares a land trust (intervivos revocable trust) for the subject property and after the deed into trust is recorded, the trustee (the seller) will quit their trustee position, and the beneficiaries (usually the seller) name a new trustee (the buyer) and transfer their beneficial interest to the buyer.By using the trust, one legally avoids the due-on-sale clause. 

You do, however, have to pay a lot to prepare tax returns once you have a corporate structure, which can lower returns a lot. 

And it takes very little effort to gather since you have to do it anyway to prepare taxes. 

When you begin reporting rental income on your tax return, you can consult with a tax professional or use tax preparation software to ensure you're correctly claiming all eligible deductions and depreciating the expenses appropriately.

I am driven and prepared for the grind.

You may want to consider working with your tax strategist remotely to expand your options.I would also recommend looking for a tax strategist willing to work with you throughout the year, not just when preparing your tax return.

Instead he would like to end the lease and has decided he wants to sell the property instead.He has proposed refunding all amounts that I have given him plus an amount for the time and sunk costs that I have already incurred into preparing to move in. 

Also, with conversions, even if the municpality does not require MEP drawings, I highly recomend spending the money to have an engineer prepare them.

I'm getting concerned because I know from all my BP reading/learning that expected PM rates vary from 5%-10%, so I was preparing to pay on the upper end of that to make sure I find a "Rock Star" PM (as BP books would emphasize doing).

You should be prepared to have your unit pass a section 8 inspection.