It's my initial thoughts that creating a business structure would add a certain degree of complexity to the investment in general and the costs may outweigh the benefits for a first investment. 

Sometimes your State/County will have a free one to start with.. just have to do some Googling.I personally don't see the benefit outweighing the cost in creating an LLC for every single property but I do understand the theory behind why some people do it.

But will that outweigh my risk of using the my own money?

The benefits outweigh the drawbacks 10/1.

Once they are done with it you have options: keep renting out or sellBottom line for a parent who has the capacity to do this for their kid the benefits outweigh the negatives in my opinion. 

Do the benefits outweigh the cost? 

HOA’s for any buy and hold investment will raise concerns and they have their negatives which, in my opinion, outweigh the positives.

The satisfaction of not allowing this tenant to control the situation will far outweigh a payoff that she will surely not comply with.  

Rates are a tad higher in general (figure in the mid 5% range at par) but you can still secure a 30 year fixed and for many folks it seems that the benefits of saving a few bps on the rate by going conventional are outweighed by the desire to cash out quicker and vest in an entity.  

But I've always found that the benefits of this type of investment outweigh the drawbacks.