Otherwise, I personally prefer to sign a fresh lease.

House hacking will also give you some personal "property management" experience.

Even though the ONLY way that a tax sale can be reversed is if the entity or person that lost the property can prove that the tax collector missed the statutory public notification laws.. ( ask me how i know this one LOL ).. 

Would the trust protect my personal assets just the same?

Personally, I don't like anything that pay money that is no connected to an agent doing deals but I can see the appeal.

Since you don't have an interest in calls/trainings, I'd look for companies with favorable splits.Berkshire Hathaway and Winzone are a couple of companies that come to mind.Also, my brokerage operates in every state and does not collect commissions on your personal deals. 

I personally rent out my own units.

.)* An offer to send them my vendor list (this one gets HUGE response)* An offer to join Homebot for their homes here or up north* A question of who keeps them up to date on the sales in their neighborhood and an offer to be that person.

is there a person I can have set up calculations for me?   

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).