Advice on LLC, umbrellas, and taxes is appreciated. 

Just make sure you have $300,000 or more liability insurance and a $1 million umbrella policy.

@Joe MartellaIn my experience best protection is having GREAT insurance and umbrella policies in place.

I have $500k personal liability on the rentals and $1mm on personal house.I'm looking at an umbrella for $3 million - - thus far I've been presented "Markel" .  

Some lawyers will recommend all manner of complicated options when a simple umbrella insurance policy will suffice.

If by house, then how to categorize things that apply to both houses like tool purchases or say, an umbrella policy?

My break-even time is ~18 months.3) Move the 9 homes in to an LLC and take out an umbrella/portfolio loan.

Substantial protection can be obtained with a good fire policy and good umbrella policy.

Then I may work on paying off the mortgages or look into an umbrella loan from a credit union, and continue to buy more rentals.I will say that the $820/month feels pretty good, the account I deposit it into each month has grown from $0 to about $9,000 in just 11months. not to mention the $25,000 in equity.

They're the quietest.You could always lead a new buyer down a path that includes their choosing your title company.Title companies are insurance companies, of course, and prefer to charge you money to loan you an umbrella when the sun is shining and take it back when it rains.