My suggestion to contact property managers first is because they are the most important piece.

If you want to start investing in real estate and be able to more comfortably afford your monthly mortgage payments my suggestion would be to sell your house and purchase a multi family property anywhere from 2-4 units.

@ Jill PetersonI suggest having an applicant scorecard so that you can review candidates on a level playing field. 

@ Greg RusianoffI suggest joining a local REA. 

I would suggest age 50 or 60-89, 20+ year ownership, single family home and specify a home value range.You can also specify Low Financial Stability Scores to find people who are more likely to be motivated sellers.

If you can provide some more specifics then I'd be happy to suggest a few neighborhoods to check out.

If you do not like how the numbers/cashflow look after a refinance, then I would suggest selling and taking the profits to roll into your next deal (preferably multiple units).

Thank you for your suggestions.

If we plan on purchasing more investment properties in the future do you suggest creating individual LLCs for each property for further protection?

This is broad advice though...my suggestion again is to speak with your agent about the specifics of the deal so they can guide you.