To echo the rest of the group, if you're planning on holding the property, a DSCR is likely your best bet, assuming your investment property is in a rental area that supports the debt service. 

Sometimes too portfolios allow you to include lower valued properties that might not be eligible for regular DSCR lending. 

Does it make sense to start an LLC to hold my properties, and what are the pros and cons?

We have a couple of houses that we would like to hold on to for now and possibly sell in a couple of years.

I currently live in NJ, but before I make another purchase here, I wanted to see if there are any location that have buy and hold opportunities.

But if you hold that thing for 10 years I don't see how your life is not completely different and people don't think your a genius for buying a middle of the road househack now.

Your income is Sales priceLess Purchase PriceLess Costs to sell propertyLess renovations/repairs/holding costs.You mentioned having partners. 

That would be a foundation issue to make sure the current foundation is able to hold two more floors on top and also a height issue for the town for the area.

what really needs to be reviewed is why is it not going well and what is the plan - its very different plan when you cut distributions and do a capital call  to hold $4M to lower your debt obligation to allow for a refinnance compared to needing a capital call because you are only at 80% occupancy and anticpated 95%, rents are 50 cents a square foot less than you wanted and expenses are 25% higher....

This price point will determine what markets you can invest in, what type of projects you can pursue, or if you want to hold off completely and save more.