Renting owned home- buying new home

[Matt Bode]

First post so be easy- Cental Texas resident

I'm about to pay off my home, (or possibly hold off- owe 45k at a 2.75% interest rate) and would like to start renting it out, and purchase a new house to live in.

I'm reading that I should open an LLC-

My question is, what is the smartest way of doing this? Should I take some type of equity in my owned home to purchase my new one?

I just don't want to get into my emergency fund for a down payment on a new home to cover the 20% down payment. Anything I put would help.