Hire either a bookkeeper or a manager or some buffer.  

I do recommend reading the BP tax book http://get.biggerpockets.com/taxbook/ I own a copy and felt it was very helpful.As for book-keeping I use an app called Scanbot, which automatically date stamps and writes the location into the file name of the PDF, which it automatically syncs with my Google Drive Receipts folder.

A little background: I operate a bookkeeping firm specifically targeting RE investors in Oklahoma.

Do my own bookkeeping on whose money is in there, track interest for their deposits, etc.

Breaking RE materials down for 2 or 3 houses like roofing nails or sheet rock would be silly, even 20 houses a year, maybe at 200 or at 2,000 units there might be a difference.The more you try to learn on your own in finance and accounting the greater the chance that you'll mess up, you don't need to go past Accounting 101 and 102, bookkeeping and preparation of a budget, income statement and balance sheet, from there that's all you'll really need for what you'll be doing, IMO.

At the end of the day if you open a ton of LLC's you end up spending a lot on overhead of just filing taxes, book keeping, legal,  etc.

I've seen investors dip into their IRA funds for things that they shouldn't be doing.I could save money each month by managing my own accounting and books in the office, but I'd rather pay for Quickbooks and have my bookkeeper come in and charge me a fee to make sure things are documented properly.Does Quest and others charge annual fees?  

My CRE just opened a bookkeeper position that would let me play with quickbooks, yardi, excel, and even possibly analyzing property acquisitions!

It has minimal capital reserves.For tax purposes, you can treat them as disregarded entities and all net flows to you.Yes, the administration is more involved than having everything in your name, but you need proper bookkeeping anyway.PM me and I can send you my notes on asset protection (primarily for buy and hold investors) that includes entity structuring, protecting the corporate veil, transferring and due-on-sale clause, when to do it, checklists, etc.

There are also many other things that your PM company does such as bookkeeping, staff training, cap ex supervision, staff replacement if needed, additional staff if needed for special projects, liaison with the owner, etc.