I drop them and use a competent local RE agent, who did a great job.   

I suggest finding an online bank that gives high interest rates.

As @Brett Synicky suggested, keep it simple, as a sole proprietorship.You are also not considering that you will have to pay $800 per year and per LLC to your greedy state.In short, get some professional advice instead of TikTok advice.

Any guidance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Phoenix is a hot market for housing investors due to its increasing population, healthy job market and steady demand for housing.Why Phoenix?

If the income requirements are met, credit looks good, and employment history ( at least 6 months +) at the same job, move forward with the applicant and request additional deposit.That's an old eviction IMO.I have a current tenant that I leased to with low 500 credit.

Thanks all for the replies, suggestions and comments.

I highly suggest working with an investor friendly agent so you don't buy in the wrong locations.I like the west side of Cleveland.

Another factor is we both work full time jobs so it’s difficult for us to scale as quickly as we would like to but if we can take these early profits that would change things. 

They were one of the lenders Bigger Pockets suggested and everything seems great with them.