Any lawyers here who would be willing to review my real estate LLC articles or organization and operating agreement?  

Should I pay a lawyer $2000 to start my LLC or should I start with Legal Zoom and pay around $300?

There are people with deep pockets and lawyers about to go after him and them! 

My rental is in Upstate NY and I have a great lawyer that I could refer to you who could help you draw up the appropriate lease.

I'll for sure need an architect and lawyer amongst other players.

It is a business, so run it like one, as @Tom S. said, start the process and follow through.Unfortunately you're in a Blue state so this will be more difficult for you, so yes get a lawyer if they don't respond immediately to your 'pay or quit' notice.Don't take any more partial payments, that will delay your case!

I have a property in CA that I want to put into an LLC.A lawyer advised me to register my LLC in Nevada and then complete the foreign entity process for the LLC to also be registered in California, where the property is. 

Consulting with a lawyer or a CPA familiar with multi-state real estate investing can help clarify your specific situation.

It looks like you could even use it to foreclose (ask a lawyer in your state), but that the first $35k of equity goes to them.

If they did, they wouldn't be here asking questions : )  As a result, this means that CPAs, Lawyers, and Financial professionals should explain things in simple terms that are easy for people to understand (I'm not sure quoting pubs and regs directly screams simplicity, but including it as a reference is helpful for everyone).