Investing in Florida

How would you guys recommend someone new to real estate to go about investing in central Florida? I've been monitoring for a long time. Rising price in home insurance and property taxes due to the elevated home prices seem tough to budget for. Condos are dropping in price which could be super risky due to the rising costs of HOA but may be a good gamble if you get into a well managed location and make an all cash offer to boost rental returns. Also how do you protect your personal investments from lawsuits? I read you need to setup an LLC but the LLC has to be owned by a trust and you can't mix rental income with your personal accounts. Is that about right? If anyone knows if any networking opportunities or someone willing to mentor, I'd happily make the trip.