If you have a spouse or close family member that's another ten properties financed.I regards to looking ahead I would deal with one person so that they know your situation from A to Z. 

No land was going to be purchased, just the business.OK, but here is my real question: Is there a formula of sorts for when you are buying a business that also comes with the land?

You want a variable rate, 20 year amm, 5 year loan with a balloon payment and rights of the creditor to call the note due without notice,  by all means, go ahead and finance your rentals as an LLC.  

Either way, the county wants it back on the tax roll so go ahead and grab the lien/deed as long as it's not a complete piece of trash.

Here is a formula that a lot of active wholesalers are using to compute whether a house will be a good deal or not.

Before the cart gets too far ahead of the horse here, have you checked out the finances and credit history of the lease/purchase wanna be?  

As a CPA, I make complex things simple and simple things complex.I have a formula of Square footage x avg SF rents (Avg sf rents is from phone calling Sunday ads)(Since I only buy close to downtown (e.g. yuppies) I add $100 on top of this)Less PITI -Principal, interest on 10-20% down on 15yr mortgage -Taxes, insuranceLess depreciation=tax income+ depr (add back) - principal payment (deduct)=cash flowMy "business model" is net $200-300 per house (yours can be different)Agree w prior posting that debt service is arbitrary re 15 yr vs 20 vs 30 yr; % down; etc.I have a very successful friend who never pays 60x rent.

Which sounds great, but can be a real nightmare when the city does a half arse job of doing it, cutting irregularly, getting rid of any flowers or plants you might have put in, not allowing bike racks in front of business.

Indeed, the thought of pulling out walk-ins and hoods has kept me from going full ahead with a repurpose, hoping someone with some skill will step in to operate a fully functional space.

If I can say, "hey, that's a pretty good deal, if I had money, I would consider buying it", or, "that's an awful deal, the want a kajillion dollars above market value", I would be ahead of the game.