I'm looking for performing rental properties in SAC.

The IRS looks at the substance and would ask "do you exercise the power of officer or director"; if one exercises such power, they are an "officer or director", regardless of what the paperwork says.That this is "just in the House and has not passed yet" is no reason for complacency. 

5 years is a pretty short timeframe to be looking at how the different neighborhoods are going to perform.

A lot of people try to cut corners in that department, but at the end of the day, you're spending a lot of time and money analyzing this property based on how it will perform and won't even get a manager to help get it there. 

However there are non conventional lenders that will look at the performance of the property more than your personal financial picture.

If you have an LLC that you can invest out of that adds maybe more protection and possibly some anonymity.Regarding taxes, however, I think a typical multifamily, self-storage or mobile home park syndication would perform much better outside of a qualified retirement account. 

And it's always fun to read how others are operating and how their homes are performing.

Applying for a primary residence HELOC on a duplex, in the range of $110-150k to perform some renovations and use for down payment on new duplex purchase.

These factors, which should continue to apply to the separate entity test under the check-the-box regulations, include—the sharing of profit from the business;the sharing of losses from the business;ownership of a capital interest or performance of substantial services;participation in management; andrepresentation to third parties as a partnership (including the filing of partnership returns, the existence of a partnership agreement).

Obviously in a condo situation you are performing different tasks.