With respect to AJ, he is a good friend of mine and I highly recommend him too.

I plan to use a HELOC but would be interested in the thoughts of others in BPs on this approach or recommendations if there are other ways to financing that I should consider.

I highly recommend them to handle all the business structuring. 

Fannie mae allows you to transfer your loan into an LLC, but it is recommended that you speak to your loan servicer and ask that if they themselves will allow you to do so.

I would not recommend that.

Moreover, I would recommend prioritizing a W2 position over 1099 self-employment/sales for two reasons.

They also have a pay-as-you-go setup, so you’re not stuck in a subscription—just a simple, practical option for better skip tracing.If you haven't already I would consider giving Prime Tracers a shot.

Could seller finance (not recommended) to reduce initial burden and spread it out over time

Our kids are really young, we would like to put the LLCs in a trust to avoid probate, what do you guys recommend?

Deduct NEW property taxes after you buyDeduct home insurance costsDeduct maintenance percentage, typically 10%Deduct vacancy+tenant nonperformance percentage(we recommend 5% for Class A, 10% Class B, 20% Class C, good luck with Class D)Deduct whatever dollar/percentage of cashflow you wantNow, what you have left over is the amount for debt service.Enter it into a mortgage calculator, with current interest rate for an investment property, to determine your maximum mortgage amount.Divide the mortgage amount by either 75% or 80%, depending on the required down payment percentage - this is your tentative price to offer.If the property needs repairs, you'll want to deduct 110%-120% of the estimated repairs from this amount.Be sure to also research the ARV and make sure it's 10-20% higher than your tentative purchase price.As long as the ARV checks out, this is the purchase price to offer.It is probably significantly below the asking price.