Sell the house and use the money towards a down payment on a lake home in a few years (we plan on retiring to a lake home in many years but, life is too short ... why not do it sooner in life, have more time to enjoy it, raise our kids there, and set down roots)?

It depends what your plans are for the property, market conditions, and if you can/will command more rent for the MTM vs the lease.The obvious advantage to the lease is reduced likelihood of vacancy over the duration of the would be lease. the advantage of MTM is if you want to sell or do something else with the property you can move them out sooner.  

Forget about these rules and guidelines.I tried to follow these "rules" when I first got started and in hindsight, I would have got started a lot sooner had I not been trying to find a unicorn deal that met these arbitrary rules.Instead of following a rule, just underwrite the deal.

You should make a decision sooner rather later.

I would recommend buying something sooner than later.

If you do decide that you need to sell, I would sell sooner rather than later, so I would move quickly in trying to find out if code enforcement is "misinformed" and/or if you have to fight city hall. 

[OR] Maybe hire a top maintenance management person who has a long history of working with HUD inspections, not like a VP of Maintenance with an Economics degree, but a boot on the ground Maintenance Supervisor type that brings a lot of needed knowledge to the table.And while you are there, catch a few workouts in the gym, sit by the pool and relax in the shade, enjoy the hot tub...you don't have to be inside the office all day to be "Boots on the ground".You could also go with your head machinate tech and shadow him for 4 or 5 random days and get a feel for what happens from his perspective. 

I understand contracting the work out could help me get this property finished quicker and on the market sooner, though on the flip side - me doing the work myself may take a little longer, but I'll also save a great deal of money in the end.

If it comes sooner, great.

This is the first question I've posted on the forum...this solid of feedback in such a short amount of time makes me feel like an idiot for not asking here sooner.