The Midwest markets offer a lower barrier to entry as they provide lower home prices and taxes, a lot of these markets are landlord friendly as well.

A DSCR loan, or Debt Service Coverage Ratio loan, is underwritten to the property income instead of your personal income/taxes/debts.

I then turn over this expense notebook to my CPA so that he can use it to offset my taxes. 2).

Additional expenses include property management at $142/month, property tax at $1700/year, and other costs like insurance and maintenance.

Should I pay state tax on the one that shows positive even though the entire portfolio is at loss?

Put in LLC so you can realize the benefits and have the protection of the LLC when liability comes your way 

And remember to declare your rental income on your taxes so you can use that income to help you qualify for the next house hack!

There's certainly no right or wrong answer, and as you say, everyone has their own opinion, but generally I think you will find most people on this site having the opinion that such an involved structure may be overkill (of course, no one has a crystal ball either).California is generally more cumbersome than other states when it comes to taxes and filings.

Consulting a lawyer and accountant when tax season slows down but has anyone done this? 

I've got a rental that was a new construction in 2022, so no property tax was defined yet (based only on land value.