@Jeffrey Levy the $100k/$150k is called the Passive Activity Loss limitations.

Will depend on several factors like the type of property, type of tenants, your risk tolerance, other assets you own, your estate planning, laws where the property is located, etc.Any lawsuits would 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).

The calculators are one thing, but since I'm not a Pro member my calcs are limited.

Commercial property usually allows the tenant to make improvements suitable for their business but you need to set limits, establish an approval process, and decide what happens to the improvements when the tenant leaves.You can get by treating it like a residential but I highly recommend you learn how to run a commercial property and get all the benefits of that investment.

First, I would say don't limit yourself or discount what you are bringing to the table.

I should be covered through insurance.So, finally, my question is: how do you limit your exposure to legal liabilities as you your real estate net worth grows, assuming traditional mortgages remain an essential part of your strategy (i.e., an LLC won't work)?

It's not a dangerous breed and the insurer doesn't have limitations anyway.

I have extracted all of my investment (purchase and value add costs) via refinance).My recommendation is to not limit yourself to the high cash flow properties to achieve your ROI goals. 

They moved from Cali to Wisconsin a half-decade ago due to the high cost of living on the west coast, which limited their investing opportunities. 

That limits potential fraud.