@Jill KellerI personally owned and managed several rental properties, mainly one family, 3-families and been advised by a number of attorneys through the years to forget doing LLC's.

This is not personal, but if a person cannot save money now real estate is the worst investment to get into as it is one of the most cost intensive businesses to be in.  

Some hotels actually have a condo like structure, where people can own the units, but perhaps are limited on their personal use to only a certain amount of the year - the rest of the year it is in the rental pool managed by the hotel.If numerous room owners stopped paying their bills, you could get tax liens on numerous separately owned units.Hotels are a tough business, an issue I also see come up with them often is that they require refreshes, expensive and relatively often - at least once every 10 years, if not more often. 

The loan does need to be secured by the property being improved if we are talking about a personal residence and personal itemized deductions on Schedule A.

The second part is very personal and different for everyone. 

The best way to learn about how to really invest in real estate is to read books, listen to good podcasts, and pair that with going to in-person meetups so you can see people just like you, married with 3 kids, who are making it work for them.

With that said, I have personally seen a lot of activity in the last two weeks.

I have been disappointed with the amount of fees and personal piggy bank attitude that the PM has regarding owner investments.My experience with JWB has been lackluster at best.

I personally know the person that owns the property and am close friends with him.

I take it personally for each client we bring on.