If this property is close to where you live, I also suggest you self manage at first. Most of the work in real estate is at the beginning: finding a property, fixing up the property, finding a tenant and the first few weeks once a tenant moves in and discovers any issues. After that, its pretty much depositing checks every month with an occasional phone call/text/email. Right now I can't imagine paying 8%-10% of rents each month for management which essentially comes down to what day I can stop by the bank. Eventually I will employ management as I travel more and longer but for now it's an easy way to reinvest more money into obtaining FIRE.
I had one lawyer tell me you HAVE to not only have an LLC, you should do this more complicated multiple trust/partnership structure as LLC law isn't that old and settled. Another told me not to worry about an LLC and just have sufficient liability insurance instead. His view was that piercing corporate veils and LLCs is first year law school stuff it's that easy and in practice they don't provide that much protection. You can make your business structure as complicated or simple as you want. Just stay within your risk tolerance.
Insurance is taken care of in an hour or two total-bid out some companies, see if the coverage is what you want (especially with $40k-$60k properties), then set up payment arrangements. Done
If you already have someone doing your taxes, adding real estate will cost additional but it's not really a problem for you. Just keep your receipts and turn them over once a year. If you do your own taxes and start with one rental, filling out Schedule E really isn't all that hard to do.
As for your time involvement, like Walt said, real estate is a business. It takes time and effort on your part. Even if you think you are outsourcing everything, it will never be completely hands-off like a stock/bond/fund investment. You will still be directly involved if the PM brings in a bad tenant or a furnace goes out. That is something you are going to have to decide on your own if you want to pursue or not.
For me, I never felt that I was making any money with my rentals until number 6 (I did jump from 3 to 6 quickly though). Rent came in, expenses went out and the bank account never seemed to move much. Think about it, out of that $600/month in rent, how much are you really going to keep? 50% Rule says $300 minus financing. If you pay all cash that is $3,600 after one year. Cash is not going to add up fast in the beginning. But experience and learning does. If you self manage instead of paying a PM 10%, your annual cash flow increases $720. That is a 20% increase.
From my experience, of your 3 goals, Yes to accelerating FIRE. But No to diversification and an inflation hedge. I'm in St. Louis and the most I have paid for a rental is $48k ($58k all in) so I am in a similar market. Prices in this price range haven't moved much since 2008. Part of the reason, a large part in my opinion, is that most banks don't make loans less than $50k so this isn't a homeowner friendly price point. Even finding someone to loan less than $100k is hard to do. That helps make it a great market to buy to rent out. However, liquidity will be a problem. So don't count on keeping up with inflation as your only market may be other investors if you need to sell (your $40k house may be "worth" $41k after a year of inflation but you may not be able to find a buyer willing **and** able to pay $41k so is it really worth that?). Personally my end game is to switch from renting to selling via owner financing and realizing gains over time.
St. Louis has a bunch of 2/1 houses as well. I have converted several dining rooms to a 3rd bedroom and have been able to increase the value, rental amount and desirability substantially by spending maybe $500 to frame a wall, drywall it, add some electrical outlets and a door. That may be something you can look for in your 2/1 market as a way to boost your returns.
