The first main purpose of real estate investing(or any other investing) should be the return you are getting.

The longer you hold the property for investment the easier it is to demonstrate that you did in fact intend to hold the property for rental or investment purposes. 

I never did do it, I ended up selling my house that I was thinking of using for that purpose.

I put his name on each license renewal, and I don't identify him as the owner or property manager...he essentially serves no purpose other than being a phone number within 60 miles of the residences. 

I’ve come across details regarding the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act, and it seems there are exceptions for buyers with a valid work permit or for properties outside Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA) or Census Agglomerations (CA).Do you know if certain types of work permits are more favorable for this purpose?

Confused how this works for tax purposes.

I wouldn't recommend this for research purposes. 

All investments and assets are in the name of the special purpose LLC instead of "name of custodian FBO Jim Bob's IRA".5.

The process seems daunting and overwhelming, and I am not confident I will put the time in to talk to sources, analyze, and find properties for investing purposes. 

If you want to defer taxes, a 1031 exchange allows reinvestment into another investment property, but the replacement property must be held for investment purposes.