Since you're just getting 3, I say buy umbrella insurance and skip the LLC - they add a lot of complication to taxes, finances (where you put income, how you pay for things) and I think a good lease and solid insurance will protect you just as well at this stage of the game. 4) How do I decide how long to hold the property?

This got somewhat complicated with the new tangible property regulations.

This particular case is going to be more complicated than that because the structure that is attached to your residence, so get a CPA to look at it and tell you how that will work.

The securities laws are quite complicated though and under the current laws the risk/reward for the platform is poor.  

Just seems like we over complicate things sometimes by having an LLC for each part of the business.I'm not saying I plan to go this route, but the question was sparked when talking to a non real estate buddy the other day.  

This is with a 2500 deductible and the insurance uses some kind of complicated (Marshall and Swift) formula to come up to 40% of the replacement value (which gets it to about double what I'm paying for the property).

What complicates the issue, is that the property is on a concrete slab. 

There can be rules about lot sizes to consider, setbacks, etc. that may complicate things.

So yes you're right but its a little more complicated than that.

Why complicate things?