It may make sense for you to buy a 3-4 unit building that you can move into one unit and get the low down payment on for owner occupied loan.

as stated, I think syndications are low effort. 

"Low" income though due to cash business... 

What documents do they require, what credit scores do they allow, how do they verify previous rental history, etc.?

Rent is $1650, which is on the average to low side for that area. 

For my Mira Mesa Rental( 2b/2B Condo) i easily find good quality tenants(High credit score and stable  job) through Zillow.

It is very hard to tell if we are getting paid all we are due. (3) I have been told they are more setup to handle extremely low-income areas, which doesn’t exactly describe the properties we have.They have been so unbelievably incompetent on the whole, it has made my wife and I consider just selling our properties and getting out.

Even if you move out, you can still cashflow +As for single family or multifamily, you can always start off by house hacking meaning you live in one UNIT or ROOM and renting out the other vacant units/rooms to offset your monthly mortgage payment.There are several ways to run and make sure you are maximizing your rental income while keeping your living expense as low as possible.

Our purchase price was very low $225k and land value about 30% of that.

You can also do this with FHA products and their low down payment options, compared to investor loans for a non owner-occupied investment that may require 25% down.