If you want to 1031 that equity into a multifamily more local to you, in a market you are more familiar with and can maintain control over your investment, that's a different story.

Build a relationship and have them understand that as a responsible landlord the inspections are in their best interest in maintaining their residence.

As far as my goals, Im not looking to transition into f/t sales; I plan to maintain my full-time job, while buying and selling my own property as well as generating supplemental income from sales as an agent.

Sean,2 hrs is not bad, i have property 3 hrs away, did that trip yesterday ( 6 hrs round trip) the key is to make sure the PM is good and you get along with them. what i will do at times is not even tell them when i am coming. check the outside of the properties to make sure they are being maintained and if not call them and tell them or say hey i am in town i need you to come to this house so i can show you something or even an email after saying you were there and you need certain things done and that they need to take care of it. this keeps them on their toes because they then think you have no problem being there and they never know when you could be there.

I was also thinking the "new" rehab factor would help sell, but maybe it doesn't matter so much as that it's maintained new.

For our single family homes, we hold the tenant responsible for the upkeep of the lawn (mowing, edging, weed control), flower beds, vegetable gardens, but we maintain the shrubs and trees.

Many states now offer series LLCs which provide all these benefits with the benefit of only having to maintain one LLC (i.e. you don't have to pay renewal fees for every llc, just the one series llc).As far as putting the title into the LLC, a title company can do a quick deed.

It's as much about maintaining the property as it is about building relationships with your tenants.

Afterwards I would like to venture into buying and flipping houses while maintaining 8 units.

The first was a total dud, the second one has great communication with me, provides good account reporting and caring for the property, however, they lacked the ability to rent my duplex, maintaining on average a 3-6 month vacancy per side per year.