One the one hand, you are worried about your investment and want to protect it.

If you buy in your own name (and protect yourself with good screening, good management, and good insurance), you can get 5% or lower fixed rate for 30 years.

As far as the not being able to put into LLC, can you put it in a trust just to add an extra layer of protection?

A m2m rental agreement is no more protection for you than them.

Guidelines for PMI removal arent a absolute Shayne.Its like any other lending guideline, theres the base guidelines from fannie or freddie, then there might be "overlays," which are the additional restrictions that the servicer or investor may add on to protect their interests.The ones I mentioned are for the mortgage company I work at and to be honest it used to be stricter.

Either way, leverage is the way to grow, but cash reserves and buying right for cash flow are your protection; balance is keyBest of luck!

I suppose you could do owner deposits from the lines of credit to a business account in order to further separate the money, which is basically what I did, but I can't say for sure if that will legally protect you if there was a lawsuit. 

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My local Real Estate market (San Antonio)  is strong but I would like to protect myself from a downturn and I worry about hedging my bets with stock market investments that would also decrease in value if there were an economy-wide slowdown or recession.       

A secured debt is one in which you sign an instrument (such as a mortgage, deed of trust, or land contract) that: Makes your ownership in a qualified home security for payment of the debt,Provides, in case of default, that your home could satisfy the debt, andIs recorded or is otherwise perfected under any state or local law that applies.In other words, your mortgage is a secured debt if you put your home up as collateral to protect the interests of the lender.