$200 - $400 is a small price to pay for a legal instrument that actually protects your interests.There are two problems with using template (standard) contracts:1) not specific to your situation2) in case of the need for legal assistance, no lawyer is going to be very happy about having to defend it, since it's not going to be a good fit.Honestly, if you can't find $400 to spend on legal advice and assistance, then this isn't a good enough deal.

Disclaimers will help, but in the United States of Litigation you may spend quite a bit of $ just defending yourself.

@Bill Gulley I wasn't defending bad gurus. 

If it lands in dispute in court, be prepared to defend how your billable rate is fair market.

My full-time job is as a minister, so I am not rolling in cash, and the idea of using money to turn it into more money sounded awesome.

And I will defend on his behalf!

Also - I was reading the judgement of foreclosure, this might be a stupid question, but why does the bank also list for example "nyc traffic violations" as a defendant to the case, in addition to the name of the person being foreclosed?

There are no back property taxes on it, and no other defendants listed on the court case other than the homeowner.

Could you successfully defend your deduction as an expense related to real estate investing? 

Using the LLC only makes it easier to defend against the IRS, should you ever be challenged on those specific business expenses in an audit.