Great reason for not pulling deductions forward.I have been retired from a W2 job for some time and my income is at an all time high and will just keep going up with more RE investments. 

I manage my own properties as do my clients; with the electronic resources for screening, rent collection, more - the ROI is greatly improved and you retain control of the property.Hope this helps.

I find that cash flow is very important so that I don’t have to come “out of pocket” to pay for major improvements / repairs  

He learned a lot about what to do himself, what jobs to hire someone for, and just how long it can take when you are by yourself.

If we rent to own, they are OK, but we cant refinance because we don't have the deed.Are there any unique scenarios to help us get the property for little money out of pocket, we have the ability to have the deedSign a lease agreement with a purchase option that allows you to buy the property at an agreed price at the end of the lease term, consider establishing a partnership with the seller to jointly invest in property repairs and improvements.

You definitely want to use a thorough screening method like rentprep.com that gets their income, credit, background check, and call at least 3 references (make sure to verify them by address/job and then their name).  

I’m thinks just pay him his regular price for the job and throw him 5-10% finders/gc fee instead of making a 70/30 split or something like that.

A great way to get started if you currently have a W2 job is to buy a house hack like a duplex or a fourplex where you can move into one of the units and continue to rent/manage the other units.

(https://www.mynd.co)One of my co-workers at my last job (pre-covid times) used to work\invest with them, so I had probably registered on their site back then.

I do not flip so I understand your reluctance to want to flip (it’s a job, taxes, selling costs, etc), but it seems like a much better flip than brrrr.