LLC for Property Management?

[Andrew Herrig]

I know the issue of LLC's has been beaten to death around here, but I am having trouble finding the answers to some of my concerns. I am about to purchase my first rental property in my own name which I plan to manage myself. I know the prevailing wisdom is that you should hold the property in an LLC, but then you have to get commercial financing, and I hear that transferring into an LLC later is a risky process. So for now, I plan to hold the property in my name.

My question is, should I still set up an LLC to manage the property? I like the idea of having a separate entity with its own bank account set up to handle all real estate related tasks, but am unsure of the ramifications of doing this. If I own the property in my name, but manage it through an LLC, how are taxes and deductions handled? Is all cash flow from the property then considered as the LLC's profit and loss?