Short term or midterm rentals (under 30 days) can also limit your exposure to the negatives of California's tenant laws. 

Working with a title company and consulting a real estate attorney can help minimize exposure.

You also asked if you should put your own house into an LLC.Yes, I think getting a Home Equity Line of Credit is a great way to get access to that equity and only use and pay for what you need.Putting your own house into an LLC may affect your ability to claim homestead taxes so you may not want to do that and may also affect your home insurance.However, putting your fix and flip into an LLC can reduce your liability exposure but make sure you also have the right insurance on the property while it is being worked on.

MTR is not my specialty but I am all for maximizing exposure. 

For context, I'm in my 30s and while I'm healthy, my days of working back-breaking jobs for minimum wage and "exposure" are over.

Our greatest exposure is a new 75 acre subdivision coming in line this fall.  

Obviously the exposure on this site won't be as great but we can list it as a link to friends and family to book through maybe.

More than enough exposure there.  

So you get extra exposure to your site, and you get to set all your own policies.

If you plan to add more properties in Illinois, separating the two LLCs could also limit liability exposure between states.In Kentucky, having a holding company structure will avoid tax per LLC.