As they've gotten settled the experience has become a nightmare. 

I appreciate the detailed suggestions and personal experiences you shared.

Quote from @Eric Hajdu: I am certainly not a tax expert, but fwiw, I just looked at my closing statement from the purchase of a Brooklyn multi-fam and as purchaser, I paid the following taxes:Transfer Tax Additional Transfer(mansion)taxTransfer Tax Supplemental NYC(mansion)taxMortgage Tax 1st mortgage Thank you Eric, the real life experience is the best reference!

Gonna be tough to tell right now, though, and I can sell you that from experience!

Andrew,Man so much good knowledge has been dropped on this topic already so there isn't much to add other than its all on your personal experience level as well as your willingness to take risk.

House hacking will also give you some personal "property management" experience.

I rather not speak poorly about a company in the public forum, I'll DM you and maybe you can let me know if you've heard of them or had any bad experiences. 

Just some of my thoughts based on my experience specific to Colorado.

I know others will likely beat me up over the way I do things, but for me if you have experience buying and rehabbing properties then I would do that to generate the money you need to do bigger deals. 

In my limited experiences, when an owner brings PM in house it tends to have a net benefit to the NOI of the asset through both tighter control of revenue drivers and expenses.