Skip ahead to September/2015, and it was time for us to move to Florence, AL (or Muscle Shoals, AL) for my job (project manager/engineer).  

It's going to save you a good chunk in taxes from your self employment, but it's also going to create the paper trail that conventional lenders love to see.  

I'm concerned that it will allow for a paper trail and if someone looks up the property info (to sue) they can tie it to my name.

She states they pay in cash and that there has not been any paper trail on her end. 1.

Guard against these with a solid paper trail to support all your communications.Choose the Right Legal Business EntityMost property investors set up their businesses as sole proprietorships.

You have Beaver Lake in Rogers, a short drive to the west will put you on one of my favorites Grand Lake, Fort Gibson, or Lake Tenkiller, at the Arkansas/Missouri state line you have Table Rock Lake, Bull Shoals, and Norfork, and a couple hours south you have Dardanelle. 

I don't want to leave a trail of anger, disappointment, questions of ethics.

Next would be a signed contract that you write up yourself which will have a paper trail and evidence backing any claims in court (bonus points if you go to a notary and have it done in front of an official) and the best option is the lawyer which will stand up in court significantly better than anything you could write yourself.

I guess maybe it just creates a convoluted mess of paper-trail, but if I created my own corp to manage, maintain and renovate my properties could I not then charge for my time?

New to the investing community and on a very small scale.  We have built three homes acting as sub-contractor, total remodel, and one lock-and-key.Currently, we have a million dollar home that we would love to lease i...