Whether to Bird Dog or get it under contract and wholesale it, usually has to do with your amount of skill and knowledge.

We have mastered "people skills" -- and part of people skills is not letting it show when you think someone is being a jerk or unreasonable. 

The skill of solving the seller's or the buyer's problem is a great skill to have.That especially becomes true when you start trying to buy or sell larger properties --- getting those deals done correctly often require a cooperative, joint effort between the seller and buyer.

number and size of local institutions with skilled transient workforces?

But only to support some of the advise in this thread to start with a few properties which may not need much if any maintenance to wet your beak, that do not require that you bring a set of skills that you may not yet have.There are so many people here who have been in the same shoes you are in and had a lot of success, listen to them on the podcast and read their blog post, I think you will be satisfied.  

I would probably piggy back some on Peter's idea and cite the lack of basic building knowledge some tenants have,  with interesting examples like....pulling out a dryer to get a lost quarter but disconnecting the vent inside the wall to then vent moist air into the framing causing expensive (thousands) rot repair.putting a tarp on junk (literally) but slanting the tarp angle right into the siding in rainy season (rotting your new siding--but preserving their worn out tires).attachments to clutter, rusty junk, semi-operational cars and illogical desire to retain said junk and debris.I sort of also fall back on the divide between some of the personal management skills of landlords and tenants (realizing it may be why they are tenants, for example). 

@Alonzo Thomas The other bonus about getting involved in some aspect of the business is that you might find that you prefer some aspects over others and can develop your own business based on your assets and skills and be aware of what positions you'd like to hire team members for or outsource.

In your post, it seems you've tried to address @Dave Toelkes point by saying that the training will enhance your skill set for your current position.The upshot of all this is that much of what your proposing falls into areas in which many taxpayers take many liberties, but regarding which you may want to get advice from a tax advisor that knows your overall financial and tax profile.You mention formation of an LLC as a component of your tax strategy.

As you probably know (this is sort of like me telling you the sky is blue), there's a serious shortage of homes (both for purchase and rental) here in Arizona.  

If the tenant suggests a course of action, and that he is skilled enough to perform the action and wants to perform the action, I think it's unlikely a court of law would find that landlord's consent overrides tenant's responsibility to know his or her own limits.