Civil Engineer by day, FIRE (financial independence retire early) seeker by night. 9 month reader and first time poster. 

With my limited knowledge, I would agree that it's best to try to get a bank loan through the entity of an LLC for both tax reasons and protection.

You have to have the financials to qualify for one.....probably the ability to show your liquid assets of twice the amount you're looking for.

If you look at this first property as a buy-and-hold, you will have cash advanced on the line of credit that won’t be completely paid back to $0 and you will have your own cash in the property for improvements that you won’t get back out until you sell the property.2.)I’m going to throw out some possible terms, though I want you to know that everything is subject to final credit approval.Option 1) If you are wanting a line of credit secured with the autos, we will need to establish a financial covenant something to the effect of the line will need to rest at $0 for at a minimum of 10 consecutive days.

You should make sure all parties agree to this in writing, just so everyone understands and feels their interests are being protected. 

Example, we bought a hotel that had a cap rate of 4% based on their financials .

What are the financial terms?

Look at the deal - it either makes financial sense - or it doesn't! 

In the meantime, the owner is too far underwater (or dead) to do anything with the property.Rarely do owners who are financially sound just let a property sit in disrepair.

So I get that the LLC won't provide legal protection, but I'm wondering if my thought process is sound with respect  to the retirement account.