@Andy Albrecht, note that an LLC, no matter the setup, doesn't afford you any tax savings. It's all considered pass-through income (LLCs dont pay tax), and will be taxed on your personal return at your aggregate total income. In fact, it will seriously complicate your taxes, with K-1s being issued to Form 1065 of the sub-LLCs, which then in turn issue their own K-1s to each partner with the pass through income. Start mixing passive and active income, managing roles of non-participating, passive, active and managing members of each LLC, and it gets complicated fast.
Honestly I wouldn't do an SLLC, i like things being separate. I'd just have 2-3 independent LLCs that run each activity or property. Having a master LLC, imho, ties the sub-LLCs together legally, which seems to introduce more risk should would one be exposed to a lawsuit. It would also seem make them more complicated if you want to bring in partners to one activity but not another in the future. But then, I'm not an attorney or CPA.
