I am also a 'sole proprietor' small business person and carry general liability for that.

There aren't many other options with sole proprietor as an entity.

By doing this the creditors use your networth and credit to still hold you financially liable for that credit and not all others you may have elsewhere.So if are operating as sole proprietor, banks feel you are a high risk exposing you and your personal assets that they are considering when giving you credit.

An LLC can be treated like a sole proprietor, partnership or corporation for tax purposes.

Partnerships and sole proprietors can represent themselves.

If you're a sole proprietor, you'll list your income and expenses on a Scedule C.

., partnership, or as a sole proprietor.

If I wanted to start real estate today, would it be safest to have an LLC first? Or should I just begin to buy properties?

His argument was leaning more towards remaining as a sole proprietor with liability insurance instead. 

If the LLC you set up is a single member LLC that chooses to be taxed as a sole proprietor then that LLC will not file it's own return.