I understand it is going to be a higher stress situation as the thought of losing your home can be overwhelming but I could see myself taking an opportunity of someone buying my house over losing it to the bank. 

Verifying last 2 years of rental history and income extremely important to find the “best of the worst”.Make sure you understand the Class of properties you are looking at and the corresponding results to expect.Once you figure out what Class you want to invest in, then you should target a city.Check out some of the great things happening in Detroit in 2024https://michiganchronicle.com/2024/01/03/major-developments-that-will-define-detroit-in-2024/

I benefit from their ignorance (my rents will increase ~$50k this year), but would prefer that they had a better understanding of consequences.  

Given my limited experience and understanding in this field, it's challenging for me to judge whether a real estate agent is suitable for my investment purposes.

Might be worthwhile to understand what you'll be asking of a PM (which you already seem to have a handle on) before you hire them. 

Before trying to wholesale you have to understand what makes a property a good deal for an investor.

The upstairs tenant gets very mad about this, and I can understand that, as he works first shift, 12-hour days, and is being woken up in the middle of the night by the noise.

They are typically neighborhood locals who just understand the neighborhood and have a close pulse on what’s going on.

As I understand in Colorado the Landlord is ultimately responsible to cover costs of pest control.

After gaining experience via house hacking then you may start feeling more comfortable taking on greater risk for investing out of state because now you have a better understanding of what it takes to do it but this time without you living there.