My ultimate goal is to build passive income over time by having multiple multifamily homes throughout my state of residence .

I  use sellers agent for this property. i believe in this strategy - going with the sellers agent, in LA hot market this is an  advantage non cash buyer can get when there are multiple offers.

Then we would buy a new sf to live in soon (we are engaged and plan on getting married in a yr or two).My real estate goals are not based on instant money now but on long term goals 15-20 yrs from now.  

There are multiple levels of investors hear.

If there are business reasons to have an entity, by all means, see your accountant.You only need one LLC, not multiple LLCs, also check on a Series LLC. 

I have purchased multiple properties from the same tired landlord over time before as well.  

I have done it multiple times and been total transparent with the mortgage companies.

Most of the NOO portfolio lenders I am currently seeing are looking for multiple property blanket loans.  

I would encourage you to network through the two local REIA groups and multiple meetup opportunities in Indy to meet like mined investors.

We see with multiple NFL teams looking to leave their current cities, could we see a significant drop in prices near such arenas in San Diego, St Louis etc.?