There is so many ways it can go wrong and being a greater negative for parties involved. 

In addition, you still need to meet the IRS requirements for material participation in each property or elect to group themBased on what you say it sounds like it would be challenging for you and your wife to meet these requirements unless she gets involved in more real estate activities that qualify for REPS hours. ...

Understand the fees involved and calculate the total cost for an entire year of management so you can compare the different managers.

Add in community involvement any way you can.

Understand the fees involved and calculate the total cost for an entire year of management so you can compare the different managers.

The other quesiton i have is if private equity is starting to get involved in this market, companies like Apollo & Carlyle, does that change your feelings about getting involved in the space?

The property manager should be involved before you buy any property to give input on due diligence, how to increase income and reduce expenses, and to make repairs or improvements to maximize occupancy.Excellent property management is critical to your success before, during, and when planning to sell or refinance.To your success!

In the case of GEG, we let our members know we did not have a track record with them - they were new to us and just being tested - and therefore it was even more important to perform thorough due diligence since we can't be involved in the transaction. 

Going this route is more involved and that makes it more costly too.

Per this NY Times article, the average American knows around 600 people.https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/science/the-average-american-knows-how-many-people.html#:~:text=The%20average%20American%20knows%20about,do%20you%20know%20named%20Kevin%3FPer the US Census Bureau, the average American moves 11.7 time in their life, which based upon an approximate lifespan of 84 years, works out to be about every 7 years.https://www.census.gov/topics/population/migration/guidance/calculating-migration-expectancy.html#:~:text=Using%202007%20ACS%20data%2C%20it,one%20move%20per%20single%20yearSo, if the average American knows 600 people and they each move about every 7 years, that means that the average American knows around 85 people that move in any given year.How many of those moves do you want to be involved in?