Before Covid and the associated construction costs increase, he had a garage conversion 1BR ADU (~500’) with a ~$90k hands off cost (he played active role so his cost was less than $90k and it would cost more now).  

Don't play games about it. 

I've purchased 12 properties in a community of 9,500 and every one of them was not on the market for sale and I didn't do any mass-market campaigns or sit on the phone all day.

😀Maybe I just try to play the grouchy tough landlord lol

Now, inflation and scarcity of materials is making even that a difficult play. 

They weren’t concerned about playing PacMan or  granite counters.

Thank you for response, as this is our first foray into being being a landlord and we rehab'd property to high standard we may be unrealistic in expectations, I guess pride of ownership comes into play. 

As much as possible I'd recommend getting really clear on your goals in life and how real estate fits into those, and then iterate from there.If you are buying at a distance (specifically you're not moving from house to house and collecting houses as you go) then it would be a great simplifying factor to buyer AN asset or two with many doors, but there are other ways you could structure it so that small multis are the way to go.So, back to the root . . . what do you want to accomplish in life, and what role does real estate investing play in that?

So more of an appreciation play right now.   

@Mark Armstrong, I'll play devil's advocate here, and say that a local agent may suit you fine.