Once you start managing for other people and are charging fees you get into the world of operating accounts, and trust accounts which you need to be a licensed broker to have. 

It does not matter what level the person you spoke to imo.Let us know what you end up doing.

I didn't have any say in the tenant, nor did I get a chance to review the tenant, which was a little troubling, but I trust PPMG to handle that process better than me. 

Do you completely trust the attorney or is he new to you?

You can use an attorney you trust to help with the paperwork if you prefer to not use an RE agent.

Eventually, we decided to buy our home where we would raise our kids and grow old.We debated on selling the tri-level, but decided to rent it since we already had the house and we would not walk away with much cash.

If you have credit up to a certain level, most counties do down payment assistance and have other kinds of grants that promote homeownership for people who don't have a lot of money of the greatest credit.

@Richard Huynh you are not locked in until the day of closing but I would find someone you trust and make a commitment to the Loan officer or Broker.

You trust your contractor? 

I'm buying office, retail and special situations.But, let me also say, I have invested passively  in several multi-family syndications recently and even at these nose-bleed levels they still look much better than anything else I could invest in.