Hi Eric,To avoid the issues with financing while operating through an LLC I will proceed in this way: establish financing and purchase the property in your own name, then transfer the property into a Land Trust (this does not trigger the Due on Sale clause,) and then make the LLC the beneficiary of that Land Trust.

this would be cleanest and would keep family out of the financial aspect.....  

In order for us to qualify for a repayment plan and ultimately avoid foreclosure, we would need to pay half of our past due amount, roughly $3,300 out of our total past due amount of roughly $6,600.In essence, we are behind on our payments by nearly $6,600, have no access to credit due to our bankruptcy and our mortgage company doesn't seem to want to work with us.

investing is buying a property for the rental income, appreciation, and tax benefits.Now there is some aspect of each in every deal, but we are talking about which part of the spectrum your on.If you really mean real estate investing, then finding a property to invest in is the first and only priority, while educating yourself.

I generally avoid the NW quadrant of Jax but over the weekend I was in the area around Lem Turner between Dunn Avenue/Leonid Road.

They'd like to avoid either scenario.My thought is to have them spend the money to get the house livable (adding a means of heat and turning the water on, dealing with any issues that brings) then pass an appraisal and get either a heloc or cash out to fund renovations. 

As to your question about the LLC, this is how I break it down for people looking at real estate investing and asset protection - I call them the pillars of asset protection. (1) Avoid high liability actions [this is more of just executing common sense,] (2) find a great insurance policy, (3) compartmentalize your assets [LLCs, C Corps, etc.,) (4) separate your assets from your operations [operations contain the most liability,] (5) introduce layers of anonymity to hide your assets from prying eyes.I approach these issues from the mindset of being an investor myself, so it all has to come together in a way that is profitable.

Property needs to be in your name, not LLC.Speaking of LLC's: in my opinion a bit overrated to start out, as there are better ways to minigate your risk and avoid certain disadvantages such as commercial financing.

Having said that....we want to TRY to avoid using them whenever we can! 

I would find a buyer or 2 that you trust where you can talk to them about a property that you are interested in and they will usually be able to tell you if it is worth pursuing, so they above situation can be avoided.