Or even better returns because you have scale and can use that scale to get discounts (buying in bulk, full time staff, etc) and run your business properly.

Not quite sure if I'm going to continue using listsource in the future because its super expensive and will make it harder to scale because of so much capital being tied up in buying the list alone.

House hacking will give you a chance to hone your landlording skills and systems so you're ready to scale going forward.  

This is in fact why a lot of people like the automatic scale that comes with commercial.

At the same time, in order for me to scale quickly and not spend my time on non value add activity, I think a property manager will make sense. 

You just need to find, and establish a good business relationship with, a Lender who will allow you to scale up at a sensible pace.

If you want to replace your income (which looks like your goal) then you'll have to scale at some point.

If you plan to scale, you will have to budget that in, even if you are the manager, because it will become your salary :)As for Section 8: Is it a good tenant?

Those three variables were then scaled and combined to form a 'hotness score,' producing the top ten list."

I think the problem is the work is too labor intensive for a company to scale if the area is not plowable.