Then, after a year or two, you can buy another property, either another 2 to 4-unit to repeat the same process, or- if you are ready for some privacy and distance from your tenants- a single-family home.

But, they can't afford one, so they go for the duplex, but still want the privacy and control of the SFH, which of course, they can't have.Anyway, as a tenant, I prefer a bigger building with more units.  

I've removed the reference number for privacy purposes just in case. 

While that one cash-flows better, it doesn't have any sort of yard and the privacy is limited since it's surrounded by multi-family properties.

Short of having sensors, high speed wifi, and video surveillance that would invade your tenants privacy nothing replaces the human touch. 

The best way to accomplish your goals of privacy and asset protection, while avoiding paying transfer taxes and/or having the loan accelerated by the lender, is to purchase in a land trust and then assign the beneficial interest to your LLC.Find a local attorney in MD that is familiar with land trusts used in conjunction with an LLC.Hope this points you in right direction.

In my case, at the end of their lease when I wanted to show the property to prospective long term tenants, the tenant gave me all kinds of grief about 'invading her privacy' and 'disrupting her life' even though I told her at the beginning of the lease that this was our procedure and I made every attempt to 1) give 48 hr lead times, when typically I would only give 24, and 2) blocked/scheduled showings for 1 day per week and 1 weekend day away from dinner time/church times, etc. maybe this was just the person I was dealing with though...- vet the tenant exactly as you would for a normal tenant.