Looking to purchase my first turnkey property in early 2020. I'm leaning toward just buying it in my name with additional umbrella insurance. We have about 100k in equity on our primary residence (400k property value) and about 600k in retirement funds. Hoping to have a good experience and move to property 2 within the year. Is there any issue with owning a property in my name and then doing LLC for property 2, 3, 4,... Would this start a tax issue or anything? I heard it's a nightmare to switch over later, but I'm ok w risk of one property in my name. My goal is to purchase a property at least every 18 months until I get to 10. I have a FT government job and also am in the national guard, so I don't foresee moving to anything else unless things really take off. I have about 2 yrs until I'd qualify for my Guard pension and will also get some govt pension (at 62) should I decide to go elsewhere. Overall, I'm sticking with turnkeys for diversification, equity buildup, and some cash flow with the goal of utilizing some of this to assist with funding my kids (4 and 1 yr old) college down the road. I don't have time to vet deals, contractors, or manage tenants, so I'm ok with the reputable turnkey provider I've found understanding I'm giving up a bit of cash flow for management and a more handoff approach. I'd appreciate any input. Has anyone else done a private purchase and kept it that way and then opened LLC (s) for additional properties?

There is no problem buying under your name or under an LLC. You can have both without any issue. Using an LLC is for asset protection. If you are not worry about it, then buy under your name, you will get usually better lending rate.
Also using an LLC is not saving any taxes. In certain case, it will just add some more tax paperwork, but at the end of the day you will probably pay the same total amount of tax.
Also you can always transfer later your property into an LLC if you wish to do so.