Conversely, if I choose to retain the three California rentals and pay off their mortgages, my estimated cash flow would be approximately $6,800 per month, albeit with properties that are 20-25 years old.

If you tie up money in stocks within your LLC and then a deal pops up, you might have to choose whether to lose the deal or sell your stocks at a LOSS.

I'm glad to hear that others choose turnkey (sounds like this could be a philosophical debate!).

If you choose a good lender (PM me when you're ready) they will help you mitigate risk and work out a deal that you are comfortable with. 

I am trying to choose a company to help me with this and am looking to the BP community. 

I say this to say that if you choose to go the remote route, be sure to find a professional who can help you navigate these localities given that you're also a fellow Ohioan.I would suggest looking around on various professional posters here and in the business search to both see what they post as well as their profiles might match what you're looking for.

I'd love to help you when you choose MB. 

if cashflow is the goal, then a) choose a market to invest in that's cashflow-heavy, first and foremost. note: living in a property for a year doesn't necessarily build equity. your principle paydown year 1 ain't much & if the market dips a bit, you could have no or negative equity at the end of y1. just something to consider.note: appreciation in general is speculation. we can make educated guesses on what's going to happen, based on what HAS happened, but this isn't the 'perk of RE investing' to focus on when you know your goal is cashflow. ignore appreciation for now.if the goal is cashflow, why not just start with a rental?

I always go a little cheaper than rentometer so I can get more applicants and choose the better applicant.

In our modern society, we can identify as anything we choose.