I would also invest in landscaping and fresh paint throughout the exterior.

The loan officer said that we need to talk to our CPA about property purchases in the future and make sure from a tax/accounting perspective that later we would not run into issues on an individual level for personal property purchase and loan qualification.     

I plan to get back into this endeavor with a new set of skills and perspective based on a combination of some experience and a greater understanding of why I would choose one market over another, or one property over another. 

From my own perspective which will hopefully help...I spent the first 20 years of my career contributing the maximum to my 401k, most of which included a decent company match and it has been funded by a pretty good paying W-2 job. 

I've lived in the Melbourne FL area for around 20 years now so I have a natural feel for the region but never really viewed it from a real estate perspective so plenty to learn.

@Lamontis GardnerDoesn’t matter from a tax perspective as long as you file your taxes as married filing jointly.

@Danual Berkley It could have been rented as-is but we put in a fresh coat of paint and made some repairs to the porch railings due to safety concerns. 

There are often numerous considerations - both from a legal and tax perspective - that should be considered prior to creating your entity. 

I guarantee it will be a lot less headache than separating every property into its own LLC with separate books and bank accounts.From a tax perspective it wouldn't matter too much since I assume all of these LLCs would be single member an thus treated as disregarded entities, which means it would flow directly to your Schedule E.

AntonioFrom an insurance perspective you should check for things that the Tenants are doing that might give you problems getting or maintaining coverage. 1.