WE have had ONE sophisticated buyer who wanted to represent himself.. but he had a back ground In building and real estate.She also just closed another rehabber we did in PDX .. closed today and that buyer represented themselves.. it was a 1031 .. but generally 95% of people at least home buyers for resi purposes still need help.. they are not up to speed.now I can see a big difference in the investment end..

They don't know the landscape but have 15 analytical spread sheets, sophisticated cap rate algorithms  and  every guru's investing handbook in their library.

These are experienced, sophisticated RE investors.  

The S corp doesn't really offer any legal protection (not an attorney, so please check) and just creates the payroll issue you identified.  

About the only other potential option would be very sophisticated maneuver called a "lease hold" exchange.

Good point Pavel, The multi family buyers I have run into are overall much more sophisticated than the SFR buyers. 

You will want a company that buys them, manages them and has people on their payroll to fix them if you intend to be mostly hands off.

Trouble for them is, I have a much more sophisticated system for not being reachable than they have for contacting me. 

WC goes up so does liability insurance, admin payroll, etc.There are pros and cons, anyone see anything I missed or have experience with both?

There are also sophisticated private lenders (lawyer's, doctor's, and other wealthy individuals) that lend out their money.