You retain the *option* to sell in a downturn.

The only thing I am concerned about is the amount of information I need to retain to consistently be successful. 

Otherwise, without that, you don't own it, the tenants do.If you do go for it, having a handy-man on retainer in the area would be a super good idea.  

Being out of State would be a hard stop for me personally.You're getting excellent advice and I agree retaining a Realtor makes sense given the circumstances you've presented.

Trust your realtor - we pushed a more aggressive list price than recommended initially by our realtor which probably caused us to miss out on some buyers and then had to lower the asking price by $10,000 when we needed to get our capital out for other projects.The original rehab estimate was closer to $45,000 but we encountered the following unforeseen issues we had to deal with: (1) Drainage issue in back yard required a 40' retaining wall and french drain ($4,000); (2) Roof of addition was not property joined to main structure causing a buckle after a heavy rain - we had to get a structural engineer's report and fix that problem in order to sell the house ($1,500); and (3) Miscellaneous items here and there that we forgot to account for $1,268.  

@Steve Kehoe, Much as you love them, the key is for you to retain control of the situation while they learn so you don't get hurt and their mistakes don't hurt as much.  

I own the properties to rehab and rent and retain all rents for the first three years. 4.

In response to the money upfront situation: Do you pay your lawyer a retainer?

I emailed my lawyer a few days after retaining him asking which title company he recommends and that I’m shopping around for quotes.

If a part of that compensation (profit share) by agreement is retained by the entity until it is sufficient to replace 50% of the initial capital provided by your father, then so be it.