We would want to use it for personal use probably one per year. 

Have met him personally a couple times and he is just a great guy all around. 

If you are able to actively use the funds I would say start a real estate marketing company with it. 

My recommendation would be to engage an investment property focused realtor (not a general residential realtor) and let that person guide you through the process from pre-qualification to market/property valuation and selection. 

@Khaled SeirafiRecommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

It actually says “Loans to Partner (or persons related to Partners)”.

Would a HELOC or home equity loan on my personal home be a good idea to fund this?  

I sold my company two years ago and I'm looking for investment opportunities in the real estate space, specifically single-family houses.

If someone injures themselves and sues, they will be suing the LLC and not you personally.

:-) From a property managers perspective, I also think its great that you've decided to take on out of state self management for very legitimate reasons...Nothing is void of a few challenges, as we can all attest to, so as you embark, I wanted to share a few top reasons our owners choose to hire a management company. - As @Jonathan Klemm mentioned, passing on this load so that you can be more present and attentive to your family and not be essentially working  24/7, on-call for the needs of tenants and property emergencies... can be worth the management fees.