How I understand it is: charging order protection shields LLC assets from being seized to settle personal debts or judgments against its members.

Ultimate goal is obviously to build cashflow as seamlessly as possible and pay down debts of houses as we go so husband can leave his consulting job and we can do real estate full time.

I suggest opting for a lower PPP period and taking a hit on the rate, if you are still debt covering. 

I also suggest Michael Gerber's "The E-Myth Revisited" as well as his "E-Myth Real Estate Investor" collaboration with Than Merrill and Paul Esajian.Remember - 90% of this business is marketing so don't let all the other stuff, like obsessing over business cards, get in the way of that.Good luck!

Eliminate debt, establish a budget, and save.

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.

To your point, you're more likely to put yourself in a less favorable short term cashflow situation if you take on debt to acquire property since you are living for free.

Also syndicators massaging debt to make deals pencil to entice LP investment and are now struggling with existing deals blowing up.

I think now would be a good time for me to invest because I don't have any debt at the moment, a decent amount of money saved up, good credit score, and I have access to VA loan benefits where I could get a very low down payment.

I prefer the card to the coin-op, even in a smaller property.