With that being said, a 7 Cap hotel better be fully renovated and running amazing operational margins in the South East part of the United States.

@Paul Moran, have you run the numbers?

They are running year long leases.

I'm considering starting an LLC that I can run rental income and expenses through for the main purpose of starting a retirement plan (probably a solo 401k) so that I can start socking away some income into a tax deferred account.

These are typically run down and need lots of work to bring back to rent ready.What are you looking for?  

You will also run up against some of the limits of conventional lending when you get to ~10 properties and commercial portfolio lending might be a way around that.  

The structure seems bulletproof, but I wanted to run it by y'all to see if I'm missing something - thanks for any feedback you can offer.I bought my primary residence for $168K, and paid the mortgage down like a mad dog. 5 years later, I did a cash out refi (30 yr fixed, 3.9%) for $120K, which paid off the $34K left on the note, and used the dosh to buy an $82K rental duplex.

Yes sometimes it was messy but usually between the choice of 1 or 2 apartments a new person would get the idea that yes it was floor plan they were considering and were able to overlook the sometimes messy aspects.I did run across an occasional unit that was not able to be shown until vacated, due to terrible housekeeping but this was rare, and my owner knew then that I would have a vacancy until turned and ready to show.  

Remember, if they have leases then you can't force them out just because you purchased; leases run with the land so you are bound just like the previous owner.

Not quite as much as the one listed above, but most of the properties here still need much work overall to get them up and running.