I want to get my financing within an LLC and it’s very difficult to find a reasonable interest rate.I have worked 25 years to build a modest net worth and will not risk losing it in a frivolous lawsuit by not having the proper legal entity in place that only costs a couple $100 to create and protect my life’s work.People who advise that an insurance policy alone is enough are not necessarily correct in my opinion.

It just seemed odd to me but I can understand the reason for doing it and that it is legitimate income.  

I think I'm going to shoot for full 1-year  leases once I get all my tenants on the school year schedule, which I think is reasonable (it seems like many students have to pay rent over summer for places they aren't living in). 

All of this is still within the free interface of podio, i have been using it for nearly 2 years now with being a realtor and have added over 10,000 contacts to my CRM workspace i created in podio...One of the main reasons i played with podio lastnight in regards to tracking my rentals over excel, was i dont know how you can add receipts and documents to excel so you can track papers per property....This is a feature i have been using heavily with the podio app on my phone lately, i have been uploading the documents when a client makes an offer to the CRM, which stores them to an organized google drive, as well on my realtor expenses side i have been using it to store all my receipts and random pictures i need to store in regards to my realtor business.. these get tagged with a date and time and i dont have to go searching for them on my google drive. 

This begs the question of whether it's more profitable to do long term rental leases or short term vacation rentals or even an Airbnb setup for these properties.The main reasoning here of course is the still very depressed prices offering high potential for return.

There are many reasons I dislike investing with only cash, and it seems to me the biggest is because the return on investment is much lower than when I use leverage.

Not to burst anyone's bubble.....but I started buying out of state because of this exact reason.

That is another reason you need to join their association and put CCIM, MBA after your name.

Ideally, I am trying to transition out of the 8-4 work lifestyle for many reasons: I don't like feeling rushed in the morning and that's waking up at 4 AND preparing beforehand; My take home pay is not very much at all, making it a little more difficult to save/invest; I want to give more time to others and this goes back to my first point, but practicing gratitude more as well. 

So you'll end up paying tax on all your profit so no reason to do the 1031.