I'm new to RE, no properties yet, but I am self-employed (sole proprietor) with a few different streams.

Partners can't be employees of a partnership they have equity in, just like a sole proprietor can't be an employee of his or her proprietorship.Partners usually take a "guaranteed payment" if a regular, salary-like payment is needed.Perhaps add a tax CPA/EA to your team if your accountant is a bookkeeper/generalist and has limited understanding of tax law.

I ran it as a sole proprietor DBA for years before forming the LLC and realized that it really wasn't much different in anything but title without a partnership within the LLC.As for how you would split the equity if cash is left in, that makes a lot more sense than my rough method and I will propose this method of split that properly accounts for purchase capital vs rehab. 

So it will have to be a single member entity and be taxed as a sole proprietor with it's activity going on the same tax return as the old property.3.

Plenty of very qualified sole proprietors out there, I'm just saying if you have to pick at random without a solid referral from another incvestor this is what I would look for.

‘lifestyle’ business – ie simply intended to be run by and to provide an ongoing source of work and income for the proprietors, no clear vision for the long term future?

Do I need any specific instructions on how I wish to be taxed (Sole Proprietor) on these llc's or any other "must haves" when filing for the LLC's?

Better than operating as a sole proprietor.

Will,A legitimate business expense is deductible no matter whether the taxpayer is a sole proprietor or has incorporated.

Would you need to be a sole-proprietor (seems like a bad idea to me).