Hey everyone!I am looking at buying my first "home".  I put that in quotes because the property I am looking at is zoned as a commercial building with a gutted upstairs apartment.I'd like to purchase the property with...

Forming an LLC offers liability protection and clarifies ownership, but it’s usually best to establish it in the state where you're buying property to avoid tax complications. 

Hey Marcus, This is a bit complicated for a bigger pockets forum, but ill give it a go. 

However, now seeing yours as well as other responses here and elsewhere, I have to agree on starting with house hacking, getting that hands on experience myself first before going into something much bigger that has more potential complications. 

However, these are advanced techniques that are rarely as easy as they sound, and they all come with additional risks.

It was set to be a great deal.But, as often happens in real estate, complications arose.

While it’s frustrating that the tenant is still there and not paying, turning off utilities could complicate the situation and potentially lead to legal consequences for your "friend".In the meantime, document everything (the tenant’s non-payment, the lease terms regarding utilities, and their attempts to resolve the issue) to present in court, which may help recover the outstanding balance later.

GP is slightly easier to release but gets complicated.

We currently use eMoney which is great but can get expensive as our firm grows and can a lot of times be too complicated for most clients. 

If the second property you are buying is not turnkey, will require some work, and there is a clear value/range of what you can bring the property to by adding value then you can refinance to pay back the majority if not all of your HELOC (used for downpayment or to buy the property completely).You'll need to know how to analyze an after repair value of the property to figure out if that technique can work or not.