The most important thing to do is either you or your wife need to qualify as a real estate professional (IRS definition, no realtor license required).

We face a dilemma as we embark on this venture with a clear business perspective, committed to implementing best practices in property management from the start, including engaging professional property managers.

Your "opinion" doesn't help me defend MY professional appraiser opinion about the value of your property, but if you provide me data I'm not aware of, or haven't thought about, etc, maybe I can justify a different conclusion.Here's a thread where I posted a more detailed answer to what to do if comps are lacking.

Thank you for the info, I am certainly in the intel-gathering phase of my journey and I certainly appreciate the advice.

Would the fridge’s journey involve stairs or any other obstacles or is it right next door?

Do not try to qualify as a real estate professional with a w2.

What's your vision for the future in your real estate journey?

Congrats on entering the real estate investing journey!

Personally, I can't imagine achieving returns like that with professionally managed equities & after 40 years of JUST equities, (my still working @ 70) BIL's financial results are nothing like ours. 

How would a professional business handle this?