Split will be cheaper and central will be more expensive but besides easy comparison, ask about maintenance on each.

Plus, the cost of a real estate license is not prohibitively expensive and should not be an obstacle.

is it worth offering discounts on rent and asking the tenant to fix minor issues themselves rather than calling the landlord, this to avoid property management company expenses? 

This criteria is for 1-4 and 5-8 unit programs.I've included an example below to help illustrate this.So different lenders have different rates (which do vary even for DSCR loans) but these are factors they all consider.See example below:DSCR < 1Principal + Interest = $1,700Taxes = $350, Insurance = $100, Association Dues = $50Total PITIA = $2200Rent = $2000DSCR = Rent/PITIA = 2000/2200 = 0.91Since the DSCR is 0.91, we know the expenses are greater than the income of the property.DSCR >1Principal + Interest = $1,500Taxes = $250, Insurance = $100, Association Dues = $25Total PITIA = $1875 Rent = $2300DSCR = Rent/PITIA = 2300/1875 = 1.23DSCR lenders generally let you vest either individually or as an LLC.

This strategy requires a solid financial buffer to handle the negative cash flow and any unexpected expenses.

Every skip tracer says they are the best and often times more expensive isn’t always better. 

You're talking about some expensive conversions just to put more heads in beds. 

They will often want a new building constructed and building today with labor and materials is very expensive versus retrofitting existing building.When I buy value add vacant buildings the goal is to double the return on investment within a 3 year period.So if I can use the existing building and retrofit to same concept ( example previous burger inc. but now Whataburger wants to come in ) then not as much tenant improvements to convert.So if rent 20 a foot for 5,000 ft that is 100k NOI NNN a year. 7 cap value is about a 1,400,000 stabilized valueSo if I buy it for 400k and have 300k in it more 700k to get new tenant in the value is then around 1,400,000 based on NNN 20 a foot and a 7 cap rate exit value.If you want a premium price then you would need to sell to an end user tenant ( regional or national in nature) that wants to buy the building and put their concept in there.

It is scary and frustrating and can be expensive.  

It would be the income after paying all expenses like mortgage utilities etc and property manager