But if someone wants to go to college to enhance their real estate journey then let them. 

I would have been screwed if I took their advice.This event, in combination with some other annoyances from overly-technical software (like quickbooks having way too many bells and whistles, actually taking more time to learn the software/navigate through it than simply completing the task) compelled me to go old-school.

Gets noisy and difficult to focus on the few tasks I care about.

Still exploring but leaning toward multi family, likely duplex or triplex, with some potential for enhancement and appreciation, long term rental.  

I have a few tenants that do small basic tasks at the properties, I trust their ability to do so and do the work correctly but that it typically tasks such as unclog drains, replace leaky faucets and things of that nature. 

A good property management team can handle tenant screening, rent collection, property maintenance, and other day-to-day tasks, relieving you of the burden of managing the property from a distance.2. 

It is important to ensure you do not inadvertently create an Employer/Employee relationship, which would have far greater reporting and tax requirements.However, for any work/tasks requiring licensing in your locale, including plumbing, electrical, and HVAC, and in particular if you have a multi-family property, you would still want a W-9 along with full licensing, and proof of insurance and workers comp.

You'll want to walk through the house, look at and evaluate each of the major components of a typical rehab, create a detailed list of repairs that are needed, and then assign pricing for each task on the list.There are plenty of threads here that discuss the process, and BiggerPockets has an entire book on estimating rehab costs.

I am able to assign task and deadlines to those task[s].

I'm a local Real Estate Assistant here in Dallas, and I've been listening to allot of talk about hiring VAs to do various tasks.