I'm using flipping as a stepping stone to get into larger multi family rentals.

Sorry to confuse you but, bottom line is, LLCs are not tax saving vehicle, they are for asset protection. 

Was looking for multi family and came across a landlord looking to retire, selling a seven rental property for $89,000 outside the metro area.  6 units rent for $400 and a house rents for $700.  

I'm going to be pursuing multi unit rental properties that I will "hack" by living in them for the first year. 

Are there tax incentives for multi unit housing?

I’m interested in the buy and hold strategy with single family or small multi family properties.

I am looking for multi or single family, C neighborhoods and higher, 500 year floodplain to no flood zone (if flooded, by Harvey only) and maximum purchase price of $150,000. 

And then after we get a few single family homes under our belt, we'd like to move into multi-families using the same sort of philosophy.

We might make an offer on a multi-family property, and it's not a great deal (wait...don't judge me yet!).

I am most interested and seeking multi family rentals and fix and flip properties.