Because of the additional income I am producing through the consulting business, I am afforded the opportunity to invest money in real estate.  

Additionally, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will sometimes temporarily suspend the income cap on their HomeReady and HomePossible programs, which allow purchases with 3% down.

I have about $100k in capital reserves and can leverage the 2 properties for additional capital, as needed.

It's mostly Class A properties, a few Class B.You may find the below copy & paste info useful in addressing your question:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Additionally, they should help with coordinating your home inspection and if needed, getting GCs to walk and get you an itemized bid as well!

So by spending $42k I collected an additional $75k over 5 years, and then sold the furniture through a consignment store collecting $8k as my share.  

In addition to Turbo Tenant, I would suggest that you have a local Realtor list it for rent. 

Additionally, regarding the legal structure, an LLC seems to be the most suitable option for our situation.

Some carriers won't allow insured to be a trust, so in that case do it in your company name with trust as additional insured.

That is an additional savings. 4.