-While rent would be more expensive month by month, the idea of being able to take my equity out of my home and also being able to reduce annual repair costs, property taxes, etc. does seem appealing to me. 

Congratulations, you get to share your partners tax burden and pay the depreciation recapture at ordinary income rates. 

Some people use their IRA to fund fix and flip's and keep the profit in them tax free. 

I’m looking for ideas of how to do this, and any advice on how to protect my primary property along with paying low taxes.

I bet they wait until January or February so they don’t have to pay the tax on those gains for another year (which is why we may be seeing less selling this month than in a normal cycle).

I would be beneficial to determine if they are other aspects of the property that make it a worthwhile investment (tax, appreciation etc). 

After two years of occupancy, qualifying for the tax exemption, and benefiting from appreciation, we chose to sell and reinvest the funds.

I always like to look at several years worth of property taxes.

Baselane has the added advantage of synching with your Schedule E you'll use at tax time to file your taxes.

Are they going to be able to buy your proudly done flip.3) If you misjudge the market, do you know when to dump it.4) Can you put a spreadsheet together on your purchase costs, carrying costs, rehab costs, closing costs, selling costs, tax costs, contractors that don't show and delay your project etc. etc. etc.5) Is the return worth the risk.