Help with the plan

[Kenneth LaVoie]

Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving!

I am about to take my first step being a real estate investor. I am 43, have good solid amount of retirement investments, 230K home paid off, small busiensses that provide enough to live on, and have formulated a basic strategy.

1. buy single family houses, 60-90K, single story ranches, in town neighborhoods. (yes, these prices are average for this area -- we neither had a bubble, nor a drop here in Central Maine to speak of) --
2. pay 25% down, 20 - 30 years, save any possible cash flow
3. (I plan to have 100K in my RE account and use approx. 70K to invest, leaving 30K as cushion)
4. hopefully the single story element will appeal to older folks, long term rental.
5. rent for 1% of purchase price, tenant pays all else.
6. This is a plan that my "mentor" follows, he's invested in everything else, and he seems to like this the best -- sacrifice cash flow for appreciation -- though cf should be fine once mortgages are paid off.

Where I'm stuck now is coming up with my "check lists." There's so much information I'm not sure which is credible. My needs / questions are:

1. any reason to form an LLC or Corp now or should I wait until later, when there's enough income to warrant. Better yet ... what ae the reasons one would form an LLC or corp for this sort of investment. (I actually have two businesses - one LLC Sole Prop and one SCorp, so I know how to form one, and keep minutes etc. I'm just wondering what the strategy is.)
2. Best spreadsheets? I can make one mysel, but thought if there was a very accurate, yet SIMPLE, I'd benefit from that more than making my own.
3. What does a good written plan look like? I have a basic one, but I want to make sure i have one I can track and tweak each year. Plus I'm not sure what I'm going to do long term. Will I live off cash flow indefinitely or will I sell once mortgages are paid? Is it important to make that decision now? How do I determine how many houses to buy ... ie one per year? one every other year?

That's about it!! Thanks for all your feedback.