Don't forget that when choosing an entity be sure to research and secure professional advice on the laws of the state that your business operates in as well as in the state that your Articles of Incorporation / Organization is registered should you choose DE or NV.

@Corey G. it actually sounds like either you or your attorney have it backward.I think you want a separate trust for each property, the trustee of all of which is an LLC, and the beneficiary is some other person, trust, or business entity.The reason trusts work as asset protection is because you as an individual, and the LLC trustee don't OWN the property, the trust does, and someone/thing else is the bene.I think you need to talk to a trust attorney ... it sounds a little bit like this attorney wants to charge you 4 times to write up LLC AoI (Articles of Incorporation).

So, you could indeed be dealing with deed restrictions rather than zoning.But if you're not in Houston city limits, it would either be the city if you're in an incorporated area or the county if you're not that would control zoning.

As such, a corporation whose primary income is passive is in-eligable for the small business tax rate and will pay income tax at the highest corporate rate.Trusts are another beast altogether and while they have a useful place in wealth management and distribution to family, you are not going to need one starting out.What I would advise is that you create a bullet list of your near, mid and longer term business objectives and then sit down with an account who specializes in business and real estate to create a roadmap for your business growth .... this will identify whether it makes sense to incorporate at the outset and, if not, when it would be appropriate and how things should be handled in the interim to mitigate the taxable event at the time assets are rolled-over into a corporation.

As someone that’s worked in corporate america for too long, educated and successful, I’ve reached a point in my career where I can fully committed time and effort to becoming an REI.

Depending on the scale of your investments and future plans, it's worth doing a bit of research on the best state to incorporate in.

There is no timing to the income-expense cycle incorporated. 

It does require some time for classes and preparing for the exam in my already busy schedule (director in corporate America and father of 3 boys).  

But first and foremost I spent +23 years in corporate America in senior management roles providing logistics services to Fortune 500 companies globally.

I've seen many companies incorporate an LLC in Delaware and operate in California locally.