Day to day management of properties isn't what excites me, but the idea of developing properties from a business (and creative side) and watching growth does.

I don't live nearby so I have neighbors who watch my property.

I would say to watch out for the trap of looking for the absolute cheapest property, and instead look for a nicer (but still affordable) area so your tenant quality will be higher and you will have more stable rent and property appreciation. 

The man who sold it to me, had been watching me for years and knew who I was, and was a productive member of the community, and admired things I had done.

There are no 1031 police, its how you treat the property in the future on your tax return to watch and a good CPA can keep in the clear.  

I have been watching the Rochester market for almost a year now and am moving there in about a month to purchase our first rental property.

You're worried about mortgage rates . . . in a couple years.Don't put the cart before the horse.

For buff and poly watch a few vids online but essentially you just sand/buff the existing finish on the hardwood and then put down a few coats of new polyurethane.  

And then, more recently, how that dark shadow of inflation-doom had descended from Mordore, and the watchful "eye" had dropped a death-blow of rate increases, that this WAS it, the end, a collapse unlike any other, '08'-2.0 but on steroids, a certainty of impending "crash".........

As you read these books, watch the BiggerPockets podcasts.