@Danielle Dickens
Here are some older threads to reference:
General education on LLC: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
about "frankensteining" Title and Mortgage: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
explanation of umbrella insurance: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
Many investors on BP hold properties in their personal name. Many have reported having 10's of properties with some over 50 properties. Its up to you. You use home/landlord insurance with an umbrella policy and keep your properties in good repair. If you properties are in good repair, your reduce if not eliminate risk of somebody getting injured because of your inaction/negligence. If somebody is going to frivously sue you, they will do it anyway.
Remember, the LLC provides no accounting/tax advantages unless you are investing with a non-spousal partner. Meanwhile, it creates lots of additional costs. The registration fees are peanuts. However, legal entities such as LLC's are not eligible for residential conforming loans. So, you will have to get commercial financing which has a higher rate and generally worse terms. There are plenty of posts of investors "wanting their cake and eat it too." Also, the issues with the LLC not providing the desired limited liabiltiy protection would seem to be mostly likely people not operating their LLC correctly to protect/maintain their corporate veil. Meanwhile, don't forget you still need to have insurance...
I'd recommend trying it under your name first. You can also establish the LLC's later. Make sure you really want to do this before getting stuck in teh LLC structure.
One other point of view to consider is insurance companies are out to make money. So, other than stories of the insurance company refusing to pay for whatever reason, the coverage limits should be enough for you. They have actuaries doing all the math...
Your various LLC's option have plenty of pros and cons. Going with LLC for each property gets complicated since each LLC needs its own bank account. You'll probably want to get a credit card for each LLC as well to make payments. This is an administrative overhead issue to keep straight. Don't forget that if you purchase the property with a loan, in my opinion your risk is whatever actual equity that is there. It isn't until much later as the loan gets older do you really have any equity to really protect. Yes, many investors put about $1mil in value per LLC which for them equates to about 4 or 5. But, I think it depends on your market and your risk tolerance.
#2 I thought there was some issue with that, but I don't remember. Yes, at least having a Mgt LLC helps to consolidate your accounting and operations.
I hope this helps. If you'd like, I'd be happy to chat about this.
