And a little skepticism that the market would continue to grow at 5% or more on average (it's been ~7% average for the 8 years I've lived here)@Dave Foster I filled out the BP spreadsheet here for the sell or rent decision, and similar to you advice, selling and investing the profits in index funds performs only slightly below being a DIY landlord, making that seem an attractive option. 

Stuff as simple as replace cabinets/counters and repaint.

Glue-Down: Click-lock is DIY-friendly.$1.5-3 per sf.

It's simple to install over a flat floor.  

He's a major hard money lender in town and has a fairly simple process to get quick funding.

Some of the simpler asset protection solutions would include the following:  having max funds allowed in qualified retirement plan or IRA rather than personal as retirement plans are exempt assets in Federal and most state bankruptcies; investing through an annuity if your state (Florida and Texas for example) exempts insurance policies and defines annuities as an insurance policy; taking advantage of maximum homestead exemption in your state; use of corporations or more popular LLC or Series LLC to limit liability to the entity holding the asset; reasonable liability insurance if available; separating asset ownership from asset management; etc.I can design a simple, cost effective asset protection strategy of up to about $5million with little cost IF the individual resides in Texas or Florida.  

I went to Federa's website and found SmartBuy DIY where I did by myself every process from start to finish.

Real estate investing clubs - If you do a simple google search you should come up with a few options for local REI clubs depending on your area.2.

It's easiest in terms of needing less capital upfront to get the business going, but it's certainly not a simple business.

I currently have  1 Business Bank Account that is for Master LLC and stuck on best way to manage cash flow  and flow of funds between account for all master expenses related to my business setup vs and also expenses/ rent related to the properties to ensure that I keep things clean, simple and easy for reporting, taxes.