Although I've gained some knowledge through reading books and online research, my experience in this area is limited.

Helping friends and family with no experience is a terrible idea.

This is intended to be a "forever" home for my family so want to make sure I'm not missing anything.Any ideas on what kind of expert I should look for?

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).

I like the idea of getting around short term taxes and legislation.

This way before you even acquire your property you already will have a general idea of who you will need to make relationships and how you will need to position yourself to see success. 

Any ideas?

This will be the 3rd rental property in my portfolio. with the interest rates being so high I feel Iike a higher down payment could be a good idea over the long run, but I’d like to hear some ides on this, thanks in advance !

Would love to connect and share ideas.

Seems like a cool idea.