Some items can go either way depending on tax strategy to further complicate things.Thanks for laying this out, @Michael Plaks.

If the free rent were considered a gift or was taxable that could be a complication.2.

It gets more complicated if you then need to borrow even more money to do the renovation.  

The addendum is unnecessary because as a couple they are both responsible for paying the full rent.

Sorry to hear this.I would always say that "There is nothing wrong with any property as long as the price is right".Granted, some are not salvageable and the deal doesn't make sense even if the seller paid to me to take it lolOver the past 10 years I have witnessed many investors trying to do the same thing as you.Purchase from afar without buying turnkey and trying to do it themselves.This has been popular especially the last few years.Not many succeed unfortunately or they don't succeed in my eyes as they are into deals for much more than what they should be.There is a big trend going on where folks are made to "feel involved" with the purchase, rehab and property management process.The properties look great and off-course they do as rehabs cost $40,000 - $50,000.It doesn't sound like a lot of money for folks from CA and NY but for our local standards it is and IMO kills the cashflow and is unnecessary overcapitalization.Each to their own I guess.Just had a call the other week with a fellow from CA that bought a few turd properties from a local scam artist and is flying to town to try and rehab them himself.Another fella I managed to save even tho he lost his deposit of $1,000 as the seller (Another known scam artist) made him commit to the deal without allowing an inspection or even a walkthrough...If that isn't a red flag then I don't know what is 🤷‍♂️Hat's off to you for flying into to town to see the property for yourself.Wishing you much success

In my county it's a one page form, takes about 2 minutes to fill out and they charge $15.However, limiting your liability is much more complicated than simply dumping a property in to an LLC.

Also for some large investment group, for example, pension funds, they have to be in the market all the time, so they have to invest to something that's very large where asset is being secured by real estate.It's just you can find the following condition :In good market you can find 80% GP group to be good Then in next bad market condition, you find those 50% out of 80% good GP becoming bad, so only 30% of the group is performing.In the next good cycle, from those original 80%,50% may rise to be good again.Those guys (GP/and such) are similar to us when we buy/sell rental property, it's just that their problem is way way more complicated than SF buyer.

 - Virtually all travel in the area requires boating, which makes even the simplest supply runs complicated - and expensive.  

It can be a complicated structure and you need to make sure you're doing compliance on each llC and filing the property documents quarterly and annually.

If you insist on an LLC, to complicate your life and waste time and money, why not wait until after the 1031 exchange is complete?