I am wondering if it makes sense for me to incorporate before I purchase my first rental property?

Similar in some ways and incorporates time value of money, but gives you an exact number for the "return" of the project.

Two years ago I formed a new incorporation with a partner with the goal of buying multiple properties over the following years.

If you're planning to operate only in NY I would not incorporate in another state. 

They did provide some references from other landlords and their certificate of incorporation (registered in DE in 2015).

Once you verify a clean title,  you can create the company and then provide the Articles of Incorporation to the title company. 

I do have a bias here since I have wholesaling incorporated into my business, so I know firsthand why there are people who are passionate in their views towards wholesalers.

It also announced a variety of additional mortgage relief options, including an expansion of its forbearance program, to incorporate additional impacted borrowers.

The following are the factors that, in my experience, are most likely to lead an entrepreneur to form a corporation rather than an LLC:An expectation that outside funding will be sought, especially from institutional investors (venture capitalists, in particular, tend to invest only in corporations).

You can even incorporate that self reliance into urban living.