If you're not local or don't have a local team, You can actually spend more time tracking down good people long distance than someone local. 

The chart below shows the additional cost for a base rate for situations including investment property.

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You need to meet one of them to be considered materially participating.Spend more than 500 hours on your rental businessDo substantially everything for the rental businessSpend more than 100 hours on the activity and no one other individual spends more time than you doSignificant participation activity for more than 100 hours, and your combined activity in all significant participation activities exceeds 500 hoursParticipating in the business for five of the 10 previous taxable yearsPersonal service activity (non income-producing) for three of the previous taxable yearsRegular, continuous, provable participation in the business for more than 100 hoursThe first three are the ones the majority of real estate investors will evaluate and attempt to qualify for....

-Do not spend $12,000 on a mentor-Do consult with an attorney regarding how to title your properties in your personal financial situation.

An additional benefit of a detailed engineering-based Cost Segregation Study is that it can increase potential insurance premium savings as well as provide support for the property tax appeals process.

- [ ] Seller may require additional insurance coverage.9.

Adding to what others are saying, if you can remove the additional headache of managing the MTRs by delegating to your team, $300 additional rent from each unit for essentially minimal additional work from you is great!

You don't have to go all crazy with the employee / entity.Just create a log of the hours spent managing the properties.The two requirements to claim real estate professional status are1) Spend 750 on real estate related activities2) Spend more time on real estate than a W-2 or a business.There is no requirement about being an employee and compensation.

Some say that you have to file a separate civil action (in addition to the actions to remove the tenant)  to be awarded a judgement against the tenant and some things I read online seem to imply you can do them both at once through 1 action.