But, the company -- if taxed as an S-Corp -- can avoid paying FICA taxes on some of the income that will ultimately be passed through to you (and any other shareholders/members) at the end of the year.Just something to think about...

As for what kind of entity structure you should create, I'm personally not a fan of creating bunch subsidiary companies unless: (1) you have a specific purpose for it; and (2) all partners/members/shareholders are sophisticated parties on the legal end.

or better yet, attend their annual Shareholder's meeting (as I did) which is being held in Orlando early June. 

I liken it to reading all of Warren Buffett's shareholder letters - I've learned more about business and investing from the several hours I've spent reading those than I did in 4 years of business school.Hopefully this is a good starting out point for you. 

Managers and members are different roles but can be overlap (think CEO and shareholder).

Lender has no interest in dealing with a new owner who now controls the collateral with the lender not knowing anything about this new owner.Having said that, this is why - I guess - in praxi the DOS is not enforced when a person transfers ownership from his/her own name into a single-member LLC which he/she is the sole shareholder.

How did you find a Bank which would cheat their shareholders by that much?...

Don't pierce the corporate Veil: This can occur if the entity either is poorly capitalized.Inadequate Initial funding of the entityor fails to maintain a separate identity from its owners ( using the business bank account for business purchases, maintaining separate books)Conversion of entities Assets for Personal Benefit:Another factor that poses a risk of piercing the corporate veil is the draining of entities assets (such as payments of large salaries to shareholder-employees) that leaves the entity with inadequate resources to pay its debts.Do not commingle personal and LLC assets.Maintain a separate LLC bank account.Execute an operating agreement.Follow the provisions of an operating agreement.Have LLC member meetings according to the operating agreement.Title property in the name of the LLC.Maintain insurance on LLC property in the LLC's name.Sign all LLC documents in the LLC's name, not the members' names.Although Single member LLC are more prone to failing the separation test, these steps will also provide a better defense against other creditors attempting to prove to pierce the LLC veil.SMLLC does not file its own tax return, meaning it is disregarded for the tax purpose, so you will still report the rental activity at Schedule C of 1040. 

Preferred shares get paid before common share holders.

So how can they have negative Shareholder equity?