What happens to your investment if you cause a car accident going to the movies this weekend and end up with a judgement?  

Quote from @Luke Carl: I think you'll find the tax advantages are the same regardless of sole prop or llc on title.

Calling @Avery Carl!

I'd keep rent low, no car note, frivolous spending minimized, retirement accounts maxed(401k & IRA), savings a high allocation.

Too many people dont understand that there is destructive debt-debt on assets that depreciate in value such as car payments and typical overspending of plastic; And constructive debt-debt which enables one to borrow at one rate and use those funds to acquire assets that appreciate in value and return a much higher rate-such as real estate. 

@Matthew Banks  if you want to be a successful real estate investor, self-managing your own properties (for a while) will give you invaluable experience--and without that experience, it will be very difficult to become a successful real estate investor (with or without PMs).Think of it this way: trying to manage a PM (or team of PMs) without any property management experience is a bit like trying to manage a car repair shop with zero experience fixing cars, or trying to coach a team to an NBA championship with no basketball experience, or trying to manage a law firm with no legal experience. 

A great way to answer situations like this is to reverse engineer the question - If you had 250K-300K sitting in the middle of your kitchen table, would you go out and buy this specific property and land, in the condition that it is, and want to monetize it or develop it? 

if the house looks unoccupied (ie no car, no answer), open the door and announce yourself. 

I know sub contractors do it all the time on new constructions and I believe car insurance companies will sue and place liens on personal residences too. 

@Jason Brown in California, we have forms written by the California Associaton of Realtors (CAR) that I use.