I’ve owned my personal home in Dickinson for about 6 years and would guess I have zero appreciation.    

You can learn more here:  IRA LLCYou are a disqualified party to your retirement account so you cannot transfer any assets you personally own or a company of yours owns into your retirement account.  

Personally, I dont get the "BEWARE of KATRINA" sentiment that's out there.Hurricanes happen.

I do get the rent in checks and transfers currently to my personal bank.

Did you use your LLC or apply for a permit using your personal information? 

Hard money lenders are also going to verify the rehab budget and ARV - so having them vet your deal and put another set of eyes on it will be beneficial to you. 

As an escrow person that appears to be a scam.

Go someplace with live in person training. 

Put together a team with a real estate person, someone to look after your property, loan officers, builders, and bookkeepers.

This means that you will probably need to pay registration and filing fees in at least 2 states if you don’t buy CA property as a CA resident.Any lawsuits should be limited to the assets of the LLC and not your personal assets (assuming you run the LLC appropriately and the corporate veil is not pierced, some debate as to SMLLC).