Best tax strategy to incure less taxation

[Yolanda Williams]

Hello I am a first time flipper. I sold 2 properties this year that were titled and sold in my personal name. One that was held as a rental for about a 3 years prior and one that was acquired and sold after a year of ownership. 

My questions is two fold: with the gain on sale of the profits from the actual purchase price and the price sold, how long do I have to do divert the gain into another property to avoid taxation? Also, I used the proceeds from the sale to purchase new properties. Two will be sold in 2018 and one will be held as a rental. For legal protection I wanted to convert these properties from my personal name into an LLC is this wise?

Is there tax consequences to converting these properties that were sold under my individual name into an LLC ? Also, I am concerned with the income tax as I also had regular personal income this year. How will this affect my taxes.