Therefore you are now responsible to pay for the homeowners liens in order to keep the property and not be foreclosed upon yourself.You do not have to retain an attorney, but if you do not how will you know your local laws regarding these tax liens/tax certificates/tax deeds?

If you are the manager as an individual and claim that your income is passive as a memebr of the LLC, that may very well be depending on how much money you claim as the manager and being retained by the LLC.

This goes beyond the 10% Bill mentioned for management as I will ultimately hire a local manager ( i invest out of my home area) Here is my thinking :The investor partner would put up 100% of the purchase price and I would retain 15 - 20% of the equity and profit from rental and future sale.

I like cutting paper checks to vendors and etc...I like the big black business checkbook binder, especially on the jobsite (nothing feels more like the Boss than having that check binder in hand).You can que checks to be printed in Quickbooks and then print and sign them.Or have someone else prepare, que and print the checks for you, but retain signing authority to yourself and physically control the paper checks to prevent theft of funds.You could run an A/P day every 2 weeks (or more, or less) as needed.Standard Accounts Payable precautions (bonded, etc...) should be taken if you have someone else keying them in (your CPA should be able to clarify this).With another set of eyes and hands on the cash bank account you have to be careful of embezzlement.Then just have the person paperclip the check to the invoice and stack them in a wire basket for you signature.When done signing, return them to the person for envelopes and mailing.Have your A/R person input the handwritten checks from the binder also.

You also have a bigger problem...the UK treats US LLCs as per se corporations for UK income tax purposes whereas in the US they are more like chameleons under our "check-the-box" regime.You should retain a tax professional. 

I could have got a HELOC credit for around $60,000, I would spend it as I needed it and pay it down to retain the equity in my home.

That isn't the way it works...when you retain an attorney (pay him upfront), you have a retainer agreement stating the scope of work and each parties obligation to perform. 

I'd like to retain at least the big dollar bookings. 

I try to study but after 45 min or so I find myself not retaining any info.

It's to RETAIN their position.