I have a fairly detailed scope of work that needs to get tackled, and then I'm going to look to house hack this bad boy.

I've got to make substantial $ to tackle a full gut-- especially on your first one where you're earning your stripes & making mistakes.

I caved in and let it be for now, but I think this might be a battle to tackle in April once the dust has settled.

You need to accurately record the distributions and contributions.The one tax issue you will likely need to tackle is the interest tracing rules.

If you were gifted an elf that could tackle only one job, what would you have the elf do to reduce your work load the most? 

You employ people, help the economy with each transaction (ads, transactions costs, materials, labor, etc)...I am no real estate ethicist, but my best idea: give a lot (like whatever is a lot to you, be it three, four, five or six figures) to the very best charity you can find, maybe one that tackles homelessness or a major social problem.

A series of small successes and pretty soon you've tackled a big problem. 

Flipping land is an art and sure is quite a niche that most investors never tackle.

:)Painting is the only thing I'd even try to tackle, but my wife and I started painting our house a couple years ago and after about two days of work, realized that outsourcing was better for our marriage

Thanks @Seth Williams for some more great advice, listsource to my knowledge doesn't supply tax delinquent information so I will tackle that info on individual county websites or offices.