Well....you know the drill....I'm not giving you legal or tax or even insurance advice but there were advantages for me in my opinion of owning some rental as a Sole Proprietor and I have the umbrella...I've never made a liability claim against any policy but, again, I have the umbrella.

The following excerpt is from an article describing the rules surrounding qualifying for an FHA loan for a duplex, which as of now is my strategy to enter the REI world:"After a year of living in the home, you can legally move out and rent the property.

What is the regulatory environment where your property is located - is it legal?

Certain legal structures can help securely and cost effectively own property in numerous states though.Please share here if you have any concerns about how to deal with potential legal liability in multiple jurisdictions.

You can be of an expertise and maturity level that far exceeds your appearance or legal age. 

I know I cannot get him out, sheriff has to do it, but he has no legal rights, and I don’t want to pay his utilities.

@Adrian Vega A DBA will not help you for tax purposes, for legal purposes, or for liability protection.

@Robert LindsleyThere are many properties that are legal non-conforming.  

It's also important to keep in mind that every additional rental property you own is another potential source for legal trouble, so if you grow to a certain size(and Terrell might be approaching that size), it's almost inevitable that some tenant will get a valid reason(such as falling through a porch you didn't know was rotten) to sue you over a 10 year period.

@Jay Hinrichs @Steve Vaughan Looks like there's a lot of reasonable and good thinking here, but I think it's easy to oversimplify protecting yourself legally, especially if you start small and grow.