So this involves hiring an architect draw up plans ($1,000 - 3,000 if I had to guess).  

I'm a financial planner by profession so you'd think the default answer is, "heck yeah, always hire a planner!"  

No offense, but hire a PMC because:1) You hate the process of placing tenants.2) You didn't do a very good job of screening the current ones.Sometimes we have to get out of our own way to find success!

Worst contractor experience I've ever had.I then hired a second remediator.

Hi Tio, I don't think hiring a professional designer is wise as it will cut into your margins and sounds like you have a tight budget. 

If you are able to get REPS status, that would help tremendously.

After years of self-managing our single-family rentals, we decided to hire a property manager to provide full service management.

No way is this a scheme to keep EM for the seller..Anytime I have had EMD disputes it usually gets solved with a 50 50 split since I know what will happen.. what happens is exactly as you describe.. money is to small to realistically hire an attorney to collect..

Hire a virtual assistant 2. 1031 into a DST

On top of that, hiring tribal members for construction or operations could qualify for employment-related tax credits.