appreciate you taking time to reply, that's very considerateI was going to put the property in the LLC anyway for the normal reasons - I don't think there's any harm in that for now, I'll keep consulting for the main point for what parts might look like a "sale" of the property.

All three houses cashflow and she is not interested in selling at all as this is her retirement plan and main source of income, however due to excess cc debt, a high DTI, low credit score and lack of financing options, she is extremely cash poor. she is at the point where she could and I think should declare bankruptcy on those cc's, and move the houses out of her name. in order to get financing, all houses need to be in LLCs, which they aren't.in order to kill a couple birds with one stone, my mind goes straight to 1.

The main caveat with that is you may be limited on how much rental income you can use from your departing primary residence (the house you are buying now) when you go to buy the next one, unless it is at least 100 miles away. 

trash services?

Our long term goal is to establish our business over the next couple years (generating income history, credit, credibility, etc.) before I retire from military service and transition to full time real estate investing. 

We are based in NY, mainly looking to invest in the Hudson Valley area.

There are a bunch of online services that can run credit and criminal checks without breaking a sweat.

If you are looking for control of your property to maximize returns, you will need to manage it yourself and confirm with the existing HOA what you can and cannot do (and what services your guests can and cannot access if you manage it). 

I thought I’d have to use a service like LegalZoom because they have so many options on their site.

I talked to two asset protection companies, Prime Corporate Services and Anderson Business Advisors.