I’ve had difficulty finding licensed contractors and discovered that not all listed on Angi's are licensed.

When you're new with no experience, It will be extremely hard to find anyone that will go into business with you if you have no skin in the game, and you don't know enough buyers and sellers to be an efficient wholesaler. 

They have little to no skin in it.

NO skin in the game for the sponsor?

But you note that Blackstone is a major investor in Austin, so the contrarian point is to NOT invest in Austin.I have no skin in the game either way.  

Generally speaking, they will not play by your rules, take kindly to rent increases, and will be difficult. I

Also, their taxing system was difficult. I

The only difficulty is I’m trying to find a multifamily property in an older housing stock area but nonetheless an owners unit inside a larger house is the goal but hopefully I can get lucky with the items you pointed out as well. 

However I would not consider them to be truly passive because they do not put any skin into the game like a good passive investment does (via a sizable coinvestment).

The difficulty is always going to be whats "most comfortable" for your family and what property will provide the highest return/ROE to help build a life of financial freedom for your family.