The current owner has been self managing and has no help.  

Flipping would increase your taxes because you have new self-employment taxes to pay, if you didn't use some tax mitigation strategy.Big picture observation: your taxes shouldn’t have increased just because you bought these rentals (unless these rentals gave you huge positive cash flow even after depreciation during the first year). 

I take it that means you're self employed?

I self managed for a number of years, but I just didn't have time - or capability - to mess with a lot of things that came up. 

@Michael HutchinsonI’m sure out of state owners or self operators could use this service.

This is going to be a long-term rental, locally self-managed.

And the homes if you choose like i do  Stucco  tile roof less than 20 years old A B class you can actually self manage those from San Jose.so thats another option to explore.. dont just let price dictate and for sure dont go chasing Bps  that will come back to bite you.PS Steve is one switch on smart landlord I would read as many of his posts as possible from the owner do it yourself angle..  

Those are about $500 (self-propelled),so I don't have to deal with them using extension cords and cutting those up or have to worry about engine maintenance. 

It sounds like they do not want to do your loan or that you may be borderline qualifying in their eyes.Are you self employed?

If you self manage, what have you implemented recently to streamline your operations to make it more passive?