I looked out of state but eventually came to the conclusion after studying 4 markets in depth that staying local where I’m in control and have excellent systems in place just made more sense.

The veil is very easy to be pierced if not set up correctly with property AP terms, and it will need to work in conjunction with a Asset Management company partnership controlling the LLC and a trust to really protect you. 

Agree the idea that one can live off of rental income long term is nice but not too common.to me passive income is a place holder to allow you to control the property while is goes up in value over time and once that happens then decide if its a keep or roll into something else.So to me  you either make transactional income in the RE bizz while you grow your passive portfolio or you keep your chosen career while you grow your passive portfolio.The idea that Hey I get to 10k a month and I am quitting and will live the rest of my life on this money to me is not a long term strategy that will play out.. 

If you are setting up a checkbook control SDIRA I would work with the custodian still to get it set up properly. 

Waiting for things outside of your control is not the way to win at anything in life.

Hold people accountable, don't keep the same crew for every time, make sure money is being respected in the way you can control it and have your *** backed by the contracts you sign with these folks.

The issue that you have, is that your guests experience will depent greatly based on the demographic that the motel building brings.I would pass and try to get a small multi-family building or see if you can buy the whole motel(to have more control).

Taxes and insurance are not something lenders can control.

But we have never felt more strongly that this is the path for us to "reduce the noise" and be in better control of our collective futures.

One cannot control the outside forces (government/economy/career/medical/etc.).