To clarify, I have been studying real estate for several years, but have been otherwise engaged in operating  other businesses that my wife and I both own, both as CFO and CEO roles.

We travel for work (healthcare) and chronically live out of MTRs, so it will be our first time operating a shorter term, but won’t be an entirely foreign situation to us.

It's not easy, but all successful agents operate like a business with daily tasks to attract leads and follow through on those leads.

They usually sell for a really attractive price because investment property financing is (obviously) difficult, somewhat limiting the buyer pool to owner-operator small business owners (who in turn are typically great clients, as well).  

Very few people operate their LLC correctly and therfore this just gives them a flase sense of security.Moving into a LLC can also trigger the due on sale clause.

These operators totally bungled the deal and operation but still made money due to the market.2.

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....)

You can certainly own multiple assets in the same LLC, but I would be careful about operating a business and owning other real estate or investments in that LLC.

Expenses will level off: Multifamily operators have been plagued by expense increases in the form of taxes and insurance, for the last few years, especially in the south, and especially in Florida and Texas.

@Patrick Pan, if I was operating in a state where that was a concern I would just contact their current landlord for a reference.