Also, I have heard about the benefits of having an LLC set up to manage rental properties but not sure if this is advisable at my stage (e.g., not a lot of properties to manage).

The perceived benefit to the investor is they either get the inflated price, or if the deal goes "bad" and the tenant defaults they get to keep all the deposit money and rent and all that.

You will lose one of the best benefits of the real estate industry, appreciation.

If it's worth $1.3 million today, it will be worth $3 million or more in 20 years, you'll have paid off the debt (or most of it), you'll earn at least $3 million in cash flow over those 20 years, and you'll have tax benefits.

But then you have the benefits of using it yourself, plus you'll build equity if you choose the right property.

It will familiarize you with the basic terminology and benefits.

However, I'm drawn to the long-term benefits of multifamily properties.

Columbus is a strong option where you can find properties with favorable rent-to-price ratios for cash flow, while also benefiting from business expansion and population growth that drive long-term appreciation. 

They can't take advantage of all our tax benefits.  

To overcome this, I suggest you resolve the issues the tenant is complaining about if they are reasonable issues to resolve, and then you can explain all the benefits of them using Avail.