Personally, we spent about a year and a half listening to podcasts, reading a bunch of REI books, and talking to experienced investors before we felt the time is right.

Not necessarily but I felt as though I didn’t need to spend more time there personally.

It's about being a person great mentors want to help!

The person does pay her back and she did report the interest income. 

Biggest thing is to make sure the agent and title company are competent in Seller Financing, I personally close my Seller Financing deals with a title company who has a real estate attorney on staff.   

I personally want to use this strategy to lock in a lower interest rate on a rental property (being 20 years old with a small amount of credit history). 

We provide dark grey washcloths in every bathroom for just that purpose.

Should the landlord on the lease be our LLC or our personal names?

If you have multiple people on the company, you ideally want the person with the highest credit score to have the most ownership percentages. 

If you are worried about being over leveraged first look at your personal debts that are not producing income for you.Remember that when you are increasing equity in a property you are only reducing the risk of the lender.