They often come with fewer complexities than multi-family (especially as a first investment) and can offer great appreciation and cash flow opportunities.

Hey Ximei,I totally understand wanting to maximize the impact of your initial investment, and if you're open to taking on a bit more complexity, the BRRRR route can be a game changer.

In 2003, I bought a 52 unit complex in Fresno. 

It depends on the number of Units, Residential or Commercial, Apartment Complex or mix of Single Family and Multifamily.Under 25 unit - Tenant Cloud, Rentech.Under 100 - Then Doorloop/Buildium.100+ - AppFolio, Yardi, Rent Manager.Apartment Management : Yardi seems to be wildly usedSingle Family ( Mixed ) - AppFolio seems to be popularRent manager has a good customer support team.

I'm very interested in apartment complexes and have been trying to learn as much as I can about investing in them.

Hostaway seems interesting as potentially something with the power of Ownerrez but without the challenging interface and complexity. 

However, it comes with risks like higher complexity, cash flow pressures during vacancies, and interest rate exposure.

Thus, I am interested in suburban space near major cities, not the downtown inventory that is trading for pennies on the dollar, but often involve massive office complexes that will have huge holding costs until they get leased up. 

I’m a huge fan of keeping things simple since it takes me longer to understand complex topics, especially taxes.

We will able to make light to medium renovations and have additional team  members available for more complex renovations