In either case, you should verify that you are eligible to transfer the funds from your existing retirement account (e.g. if the funds are in your current employer 401k, you will likely not be able to transfer until you quit your job). 

Another strategy is to purchase the property in your own name then transfer it into a land trust that will assign the LLC as a beneficiary - as explained by this article.

Can you just pay off their $20k mtg when the transfer the deed to you....cleaner that way with no due on sale issues.  

They have basically taken the liability and transferred it to the property and it stays there until someone deleads it.

We covered all these answers and I took the landlords through one of my screenings (with the confidential info hidden) so they could see the process of trust but VERIFY. 

You should also verify if there's a security deposit that needs to be transferred to you as well.As far as notices go, there should be a signed PMA (property management agreement) that may disclose how to go about and how soon you need to send notice.

For an even more passive approach, you can simply invest in real estate funds that will invest in projects for you - this is the easiest way to start getting involved and only requires you to transfer money into an account and decide which projects to invest in.

Then once both parties sign, engage a title company to handle the remaining paperwork, movement of money, and transfer of ownership.

If you do a 1031 transfer you will eventually have to pay taxes on it unless you die owning it and pass it to your children. 

@Ashley WynnThere are plenty of discussion threads, if not daily new ones, about transferring properties in/out of LLC and the risks/issues.