I personally rent out my own units.

Since you don't have an interest in calls/trainings, I'd look for companies with favorable splits.Berkshire Hathaway and Winzone are a couple of companies that come to mind.Also, my brokerage operates in every state and does not collect commissions on your personal deals. 

.)* An offer to send them my vendor list (this one gets HUGE response)* An offer to join Homebot for their homes here or up north* A question of who keeps them up to date on the sales in their neighborhood and an offer to be that person.

is there a person I can have set up calculations for me?   

He is definitely a person/business that we are trying to model in the general contracting space here in Chicago. 

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).

For my personal portfolio I want to look back 10 years from now and be happy with the locations I decided to buy in. 

you can challenge the value with an accountant, appraiser, etc most markets have a person who charges a flat fee to lower it. in Columbus Ohio most of the people that do this have a guarantee to lower it or it's like half the fee 

I found the wear and tear and guests that wanted to use this as a 6 person were not what I was targeting.  

If you cannot get your personal finances in order then I would not suggest building.