There are some great S8 tenants out there that appreciate what our tax dollars are giving them.

I noticed when looking at the local tax assessor that my name (purchaser) was listed as 50% while someone else was listed as the other 50%.

Only 3 cases exist that I know of of individuals successfully defending themselves before the tax court of qualifying for real estate professional status while having a full time job.  

Factor in ALL expenses like property taxes, insurance, repairs, maintenance, vacancy rates, and potential property management fees.2.

One insurance, one property tax, diversify vacancies (50% if one unit is vacant versus 100% for a single family).3.

And the good news is they go away in the future against higher taxes and tax rates.

He claimed that transferring ownership to LLCs would trigger transfer taxes which also justified why I needed land trusts.

From a tax perspective...

High appreciation markets have higher rent growth.  2) prop 13 basically means property tax increases will be small (2%) regardless of the appreciation or rent growth. 

What is your tax position?