However once you make enough money where there is a surplus, you may spend and go out as you please.”

They will spend as much time as you need working through just about anything and they are very pleasant to deal with - a very rare thing these days. 

You can make your criteria as strict and specific as you like, as long as you don't violate any fair housing protected groups. 

The asset in different LLCs are protected even if one LLC is sued,  OR- Create a holding company that holds all the LLCs with the properties and the property management company, (need to create PM company because you don't want to do property management via holding company, see below for reason ).

Don't spend all your ammo (7%) on one shot, because if a costly CapEx expense comes up or something unforeseen happens, you don't want to have to start using costly credit cards for operating expenses :)Good luck!

My partner owns two other properties, one in Florida and one in New York, that he'd like to keep protected in case anything goes wrong with the current deal we're working on. 

I want to start investing in rental properties. I have $40k cash and was wondering what's the best way to invest this money. Any help or ideas would be appreciated 

@Kenneth Hynes, The first thing to do is to go over the current lease in detail and ensure all the correct provisions and protections are in place.

There is NO WAY a prospective tenant can sue me for discrimination, which will not happen in my apts as I put in my own tenants.In my apts Here in Brooklyn, I have the world of all kinds of minorities and status, each of them I know very well and will stand up for my Character in Court.The diversity in my buildings are incredible and represents just about everyone.Also, because I provide them with great service and speak with them on occasions, anyone coming to my building who claims discrimination will be proven to be false as I probably already have that protected class in my building.The only commonality is that all the tenants meet a Qualification criteria of Credit, Income and other non-discriminatory criteria.BUT, I know that's not LL.

That way you are protected against rate increase.You are in a good position to refi the FHA to a conventional and get rid of the MIP.As long as you are reporting the rental income on your tax return, you will get rental income credit to offset the mortgage.