I'm looking to act as my own general contractor for a couple rehab projects, both of which involve adding a 2nd level to a 1-level home.

I live far away from this house, thinking about getting a property manager.

So, in this way I manage the portfolio has a business instead of managing each property as its own separate business.

To avoid escrow delays and tenant upset, I decided to stick with the prior management company.  

Do you self manage?

You can ask James your specific questions about your project and he’ll give you great advice.

Use the 1031 to go into your next project. 

I will need to self manage through VRBO/Airbnb in order to help classify the income as active income so that I might be able to right off the accelerated depreciation against W-2 income.- I have about 150K available for a down payment, any suggestions on the type of property to target (cabin, condo) if the goal is to be around cash flow even?

Once the 5 years runs out you'll have used up your existing available depreciation but you still get to write off other expenses such as maintenance, property management, legal fees, etc.

Experienced property managers.How Property Managers Estimate RentProperty managers do not solely rely on recent similar rentals when estimating rent.