Purchasing Real Estate Portfolios?

[Nicholas W.]

I've been doing some looking on LoopNet and saw some portfolio investments available.

There's a portfolio available with 25 homes inside the portfolio. They are all 100% occupied and are generating an average of $1,000 in rental income. The asking price is $2,500,000. 

What do the banks look for in an investor before financing a business loan for $2,500,000 for real estate? How would somebody go about getting a loan for $2,500,000? What resources/advisers should an investor get in touch with before making a big investment like this?

Also, is there a great amount of personal risk in these investments? Is there any way to privatize these properties (like an LLC), ensuring that if (worst-case scenario), for example, the market crashes and the renter occupation rate drops down significantly in these homes, that you, personally, wouldn't be liable for the inability to make full payments on the loan?

Are there any good books on purchasing portfolio investments? I'm sure there's so much more to this and I might be a little naive, but I'm very curious on how I could make something like this work for me. I'm already realizing as I'm typing this that something like this isn't a simple undertaking. Suggestions and advice would be appreciated!