As @Brett Synicky suggested, keep it simple, as a sole proprietorship.You are also not considering that you will have to pay $800 per year and per LLC to your greedy state.In short, get some professional advice instead of TikTok advice.

I've worked with tenants in a similar fashion and ended up feeling ok about it but it was short term, over the course of a few months and they paid me something the entire time. 

Hello,I have had a short term rental that is not compliant with my HOA. 

It’s important to note that short term rentals depreciate differently than long term rentals.

that is more a RV park. the MBH parks down here. we typically own the land, lot, and trailers. there is a reason but long story short, if i just own the lot and they dont pay the fee. i do not have the biggest teeth to push the need for my money. but if i own it all, my experience says it is a better path

@Jon Martin  I agree and in short term its just not worth what you will get in reviews for something like this. 

A lot of my clients buy in Alexandria because of the strong rental market and laid back laws on short and midterm rentals. 

I would think with the HELOC, I could run with that until I can do a refi and with the interest rates starting to come down, there should be some gains to be made and I can repay the HELOC in short term. 

Welcome to BP and come on over to the Short Term Rental part of the forums.  

Long term play would be to either use it as a short term rental or 1031 exchange it after 2+ years.