LLCs, holding companies overkill?

[Kris Abejuela]

I want to start buying investment properties. I want to set up a legal system correctly from the beginning to protect me from potential lawsuits. I want anonymity. I have been looking at different companies that provide physical address, mail forwarding, attorney and tax id, and nominee directors. These companies range from 4K-12k for their packages. Does anyone have any advice for someone like me starting out. I can’t imagine starting -12k right from the beginning before I even start bidding for properties. Oh yea and yearlies for the agent and mail forwarding ~1k.

Thanks.