@Andrew Karhan,
After much review and discussion, we decided not to form a LLC and instead put the property in our name. The biggest reason to not do LLC was interest rates and the terms associated with it (adjustable 5-year, 7-year, etc); it killed our cash flow projections.
We decided to put the property in his name with me on the deed. The next property will be in my name with his name on the deed. We both signed a joint agreement with our partnership terms. On all properties we own, we will carry a million dollar umbrella insurance policy along with requiring the tenants to get their own renters insurance.
The guideline is 4 rental properties per person or 5 total (your house). We're going to acquire as many as we can under our personal names. This is going to allow us to have long-term fixed interest rates (30 years opposed to ARMs and refinancing fees).
With that said, we can't get 20+ homes under our own names. However, if you stagger the purchases in the right fashion, we will be able to start using the rental income from our first purchase to help the debt to income ratio on the later purchases. Pretend you buy two homes on January 1st, 2017. After you file your 2017 tax returns, you’ll have some rental income there that will help your debt to income ratios for anything you buy after those returns are completed in 2018.
In the beginning, the LLC is not going to have tax returns. So the bank is going to use your personal income (at the beginning) and calculate the debt to income ratio from that. As you get down the road, your LLC will have tax returns and the bank will combine those with your personals.