Although after speaking with other investors, some are telling us that it is not necessary to start a corporation for our first investment and its better to just buy in our personal names and incorporate later.This sort of advice that we have received is based on the information that a corporation costs more to start up and maintain.Should we incorporate now or later?

There are a TON of online communities as well, and perhaps those groups online have some individuals not too far away from you.Hope this helps!

@Kenneth P Ford they are a national franchise with great marketing.They also have some national support for their individual franchises, but it all depends on the local team.Recommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

As a result, I wouldn’t need to show material participation for each property individually, and I could potentially use the losses from these deals to offset other income.Even though I qualify as a real estate professional, it’s important to remember that active participation is still required to use those losses against W-2 income.

I speak with individuals that have no planning done at all but they can't wait to tell me about their entity.  

It's up to the individual accredited investor to perform research and make an informed decision.   

Is the PM an individual that works for a larger organization or their own independent business (eg like a realtor who works with a group of people at an office)? 

Not sufficient for individuals' identification always, though.

Hi Tyler,I am going to have to agree with some of the individuals above. 

A little background: I live in the Nashville area, currently work as a CPA in corporate finance, and have a couple of rentals that I manage (1 long term and one STR).Thank you in advance for any advice!