Another great piece of knowledge, look for city owned property adjacent to property that is either non-conforming, or under performing, you can make the agrument for abandonment of this property.

What about a conforming loan or do LLCs only have to get commercial loans for residential property?

What I can say is that "creative financing" often just means non-conforming financing.

Another option would be to find a portfolio lender who has non conforming guidelines that allow you to go beyond what Fannie mae allows.

As long as you have good credit and debt-to-income ratio, you should be able to purchase several buy and hold properties.Myself and the majority of my clients that buy and hold use a hard money lender (like Sherman Bridge Lending) to fund the purchase and renovations of the property, then refinance out a short time later into a conforming loan.

Some states like FL, NV, and IL have Land Trust statutes, and can easily conform to state law.

I don't mind paying a little extra as I am non conforming, but HML are hard to make work with buy and hold. 

You want to see as few kick-backs as possible.Getting through the City of Atlanta is 4 parts having plans that conform to the intake requirements, and 1 part filling in the paperwork correctly. 

You can see from the future map and your land what type of zoning they want for your parcel going forward even if it is different from what your property is zoned for now.This is key because if you trying for zoning that does not conform to the county or cities plans you will have a huge uphill battle and expenses and you might lose time and money.The land use maps might be online in .pdf format for free if your city or county seat is large enough and has an online presence.

Conventional loans" are those that conform to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rules.