The filing fees with the SEC are usually minimal, as you’ve found.

House hacking with an FHA loan is a great way to minimize living costs while building equity, or you could invest in an out-of-state rental for steady cash flow.

For scaling your portfolio, consider house hacking another multi-family property to minimize living expenses while building equity.

I've also held of holding properties in individual LLCs that are owned by one S corporation, which allows for a 60 / 40 split between ordinary income (regular tax) and dividends (capital gains tax rate).With the goal of minimizing taxation and liability protection, what would be the recommendation from more experienced people here?

With your first investment, you want to try and minimize risk as much as possible.

If you're losing money each month, selling now to minimize further losses could be the best option.

Minimal apartment updates.

It seems there’s a common misconception largely influenced by social media, online courses, and influencers who oversimplify the process that real estate is an easy, passive way to generate income with minimal effort.

The northland MAREI meeting and the main monthly meeting at MAREI have a minimal fee, or for $99 a year you can attend all of them for no extra charge - northland is in person, the main meeting is still online, both are great ways to connect and learn. 

This strategy has allowed my clients and me to expand our property portfolios with minimal upfront capital.