@Dakota Adney It’s a personal preference.

I prefer de Janeiro. 

@Chris Shelton For me it was a matter of personal preference which has evolved as time has passed.

(I've considered non-attorney alternatives that provide entity formation services, but prefer not to use those.)

@Joseph HammelSome examples of estate planning I have done with my real estate clients include the use of family limited partnerships to freeze value of estate along with defective grantor trusts; LLCs with preferred interests (similar to debt instrument); sale of membership interests to defective grantor trusts; annual gifting of LLC interests using discounts for lack of marketability and/or lack of control, etc.

If they just want a steady return on their money and not have a chance at the upside potential then a fixed preferred return would be best for them.

@Jacob HollerYou need to review your loans (preferably with your attorney) and see if you are able to move these properties into a LLC without a due-on-sale.

I'm looking for someone local to start doing my taxes, preferably someone quite knowledgeable about real estate related tax laws.

We do absentee walk through sometimes and we actually prefer it because you don't have a tenant trying to argue with everything you are making note of.

I'd prefer local to Texas.