While each person has their own perceptions of a rough part of town, in my experiences, I do avoid them.  

I've avoided being an agent bc I don't want to pay all the fees and sell houses to get paid, but that was before I knew an investor specialized brokerage like this was a thing.

Be careful to avoid analysis paralysis.

For example if the house is worth 400K, but they are willing to sell it for 375k because they are avoiding having to pay 25k in agent fees, then the bank can consider the equity gap as a down payment.

She said the owners wanted to owner finance to avoid dealing with tenants.

Is what you mentioned (lease your property to an LLC) a good strategy to avoid transferring my deed to my LLC and avoid the possibility of the bank calling my note due? 

Here are five crucial tips to help you stay profitable and avoid costly mistakes:Buy Smart, Not Just Cheap – In today’s market, finding deep discounts is tough, but focusing on properties with value-add potential is key.

To avoid going through the same poor experience, keep reading.Even if someone gives you a referral here, do NOT make the mistake of assuming that the PMC will meet your expectations, just because they met the expectations of the referral source.In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!

What are the pitfalls we should avoid?

This is called gifting, and there is no way to avoid the tax repercussions.