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

I assume they collect a proration every month for property tax?

If you haven't aggregated properties in prior years, you must attach a statement to your tax return in the first year of aggregation, identifying the properties and explaining why they meet IRS guidelines.This post does not create a CPA-Client relationship.

You have the ability to sell while limiting your capital gains tax because you lived in 2 of the last 5 years. 

They can really throw off your numbers if you are not familiar with a citys transfer tax, and fees.

but keep in mind CA has higher taxes and reg fees and I’m not doing more than 1-2 flips (short timeframe flips)  a year and many years do 0 flipsDo most flippers put flips into LLC Or in personal name (sole proprietor)  in CA (where you must pay $800 yearly plus accounting and other fees $300to $600+ yearly to maintain LLC) Pros for personal name-save on taxes accounting.

In its first year, the rental only earned enough to cover half the mortgage.

. $800 yearly tax for each LLC.

@Josh Ball mentions, there are issues with foreign investors but, nowadays, it's not necessarily on the tax front anymore.

Tax structuring and LLC advice you can get for a paid fee too.