I have purchased many homes in the past as personal residences and always with the help of an agent.  

Now, I think other ways to reach potential residents exist, and more cheaply.

You could buy a home for a primary residence, rehab it, and then sell it after living in it for 2 years as your primary residence. 

Even if they pay-and-stay, we tell residents they get one warning.  

My primary residence is a condo where there are only 5 units and we all make up our HOA.

Take any of these 3 programs buy a multi-family of 4 units with 1 owner occupied. 

It closely aligns with the principles of the BRRRR method.Low Risk of Natural DisastersNatural disasters can wreak havoc on your property and the surrounding community, causing job losses and the closure of businesses, which often forces residents to relocate.

So a different LLC for each new property and our residence in our own names?

Cheaper single families (3b2b/4b2b) seem to be between 350k to 450k roughly, and individual rooms in similar places seem to rent for about 600-800$.

I recommend modeling your family budget for a year and conservstively project project your income, investment growth and expenses conservatively out to at least 80 years old.