I heard that if you move the personal mortgages to an LLC they could get called and we would want to avoid that3.

The vast majority of contractors won't want to give bids on properties while under contract unless they have a relationship with that person from prior jobs.

Managing five rentals can eat up a ton of time in any given week, often at times that are inconvenient to you and your personal interests (family, hobbies, travel, etc.).Of course you can manage on your own.

Real-life reps, to me, means seeing properties in person, whatever your asset class. 

I personally think being a landlord in Chicago is easy and I have never had an eviction. 

Are you referring to personal losses or other people had losses?

If you don't look at them before buying in person, you will get burned at some point and regret it.   

I don't know if they still do it but if memory serves a few years ago TD Bank would do a HELOC on a rental in second position but only if it was titled in someone's personal name. 

Well, three top reasons come to mind:It will allow you to deduct their earnings on your own tax return.It is required by law for any person to whom you paid at least $600 in 2023, total.

Personally CA scares me.