On the business management side, I've invested roughly $10k into the systems for financial and operations through courses and consultants.A great Facebook group I'd recommend Remodelers Community -- I know it says remodelers but this group has a resource called the "remodelers vault" where members have pitched in their resources like contracts, cash flow trackers, QC checklists and more that are invaluable starting out as a residential GCBest of luck, you got this

I don't understand why they operate this way.

So I think the operative wird is balance.Note - Most of my career in Construction was spent working for exremely wealthy people that you speak of. ($12 mm dollar houses and all that....)

As you progress, maintaining a clear line of communication with your team, especially your property manager, will allow you to stay ahead of maintenance issues and tenant needs, keeping your operations smooth and your tenants happy.If you haven't done so already, consider outlining your goals and investment criteria with a property manager early on.

By accelerating your depreciation schedules, you reduce your taxable income which in turn increases your operating cash flow.

Any good commercial broker is going to trim the expenses down by 10-20% from what they will be for me when I operate the deal. 

I'm also concerned about the liability that I might be exposed to here by allowing what appears to be a business to operate out of my rental.

I know if I were to send an operating agreement to a lender that reads "LP member will receive return of their capital and 20% annualized return" they would not approve the loan.

Alt lenders will normally be higher on fees, rate and perhaps leverage at time of close but that's not always indicative of cash required to operate. 

A good rule of thumb is to keep 3-6 months of operating expenses in your rental account as a cushion.Once you’ve got that covered, you can start investing the excess.