I am a licensed Real Estate professional and saw this same scenario taking place in 2008 when the real estate market collapsed. 

Now is NOT the time to buy property at retail, the entire global market is hitting another peak, the US in particular is heading straight for another collapse of another bubble.

@Matt Millard It's a positive for us until the music stops and whole system collapses.

As soon as you dimpled it the can would collapse? 

Cases like the 16.6 Million Dollar Chicago Fatal Porch Collapse of 2003 were 13 people died and 57 more were injured that took ten years to litigate...I can't find enough facts from articles online to really know how the owner was only out $660,000 when it doesn't appear to be in any kind of corporate structure that provides liability protection, and he owned 20-30 other buildings at the time....it appears he simply had a boatload of umbrella insurance but I can't tell anything for sure.

Once about 10 years ago our tenant did not install their unit correctly and the water condensation was dripping into the house and actually caused part of the ceiling to collapse.  

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_LereahYes, the stock market collapsed, and internet stocks in particular, in 2001.

What in your opinion stops a non series LLC stat from "collaps[ing] the series structure and allow[ing] the plaintiff to get a judgment against the parent LLC" as another attorney has put it?

The earlier comment "skin in the game" is where the market lies today especially after the mortgage collapse of 08. 

When a lender lends to an entity for a commercial purpose (such as real estate investing, then the a lot of the income verification requirements from post-2007-collapse legislation like Dodd Frank melts away.