Then we found that our state landlord association offered a cheaper option as part of membership, which is very reasonable for a low number of units owned.

off the PRo membership before the rate increase happens tonight. 

Any sort of manipulation other than a 1031 exchange is going to result in a tax consequence although an installment sale or sale of membership interest of an LLC can spread out some of that.However, I think there's one compelling reason to explore the LLC route anyway if the buyer has good financing capability if they do not want to pursue a 1031. 

The Plus Membership more than doubled in price with a 111% increase and unlimited reports and history were both killed.  

The owner of record -- the one shown as the grantee in the current deed recorded among the land records -- will need to execute the deed transferring the property.So let's say you acquired the property in the name of LLC1 (the owner of record) and subsequently ownership of this particular property/membership interests representing it was transferred to a subsidiary LLC2.LLC1 will be signing the deed.

As a complete newbie, do I need a pro membership?

I'm hoping by joining the BP community I can continue to learn and find opportunities to help grow a portfolio and over time pass on my experiences to the membership as well.Glad to be here!!

(personally, I encourage the AirBNB model, I loathe VRBO's fee structure)  This seems to be the easiest thing to enforce from my POV, unless your model is people pay for their individual membership and are permitted to list as many VRs as they like.  

Is there a membership higher than pro?

I also read The FLIP by Rick Villani, Clay, Jay.If you go to https://www.sjreia.org you'll find meetups you can attend (membership required).