The title company will open an escrow account once you have a deal under contract...you will fund that escrow account with your earnest money deposit and eventually with your downpayment money.

, take property out of my name place in LLC, open separate bank account for rent checks to be deposited (although, I may just have the rent checks go directly into my betterment account so they can earn more interest) Of course after this step the process begins for renting the units (if they're already not leased ... a girl can hope right?)

The hardest let about getting the funding is not being able to match any of the private lending or having the funds to put down a down payment on  a cheap mortgage. 

deposit on your own home, why is your equity low?

I would suggest that you begin to build your list of "private lenders" or "Gap funders" if you do not have liquid funds available for either earnest money deposits, or the downpayment for the HML.

They send me a check for half of the rent on January 1st for me to deposit right away, and asked me to wait until the 18th to deposit the second check as they had insufficient money in their account.

 Does anyone know of a forum to match Self-directed IRA holders that want to lend with those seeking financing?

I plan to give a refund of security deposit (less any damages) however I am unsure if I need to refund any portion of the actual rent or not?

- Make sure your tenants pay a good deposit and have a credit-worthy parent as a co-signer.

In giving a right of first refusal, the owner of real property promises that if he decides to sell, the holder of the right will receive the opportunity to match the actual offer that has been made to the owner by a third party or, alternatively, the owner must first offer it to the holder at a fair market value before he places it for sale.