In fairness, this would apply to paper as well.5) If you die, your heirs would enjoy no step-up in basis from income property in an IRA and pay tax at their ordinary income rate when they sell.

You would be able to deduct some of your operating expenses against your other income {though I would propose if a property is generating more operating expenses than revenue, you have the wrong property} and, if your are in a lower taxation bracket than the top corporate tax rate, you would pay less taxes in your own hands.However, if you have a good income from your "day job" and are already in an upper tax bracket, there is less advantage to personally hold the properties and more advantages to holding them in a corporation (income splitting, separation of liability, etc).  

Also be sure you understand UDFI (unrelated debt financed income tax) and the taxation structure your IRA will be subject to due to utilizing leverage on a tax advantaged account.

Everything flows through directly to your tax return (i.e. no double taxation)

To that end, the three most important reasons you may want to create an entity are liability protection, asset protection, and taxation.

Do you think a better alternative would be a masters in accounting or taxation...or finance?

Below is a taxation issue your seller is facing, not Dodd Frank. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your sellers are exposing themselves to a "Disguised Installment Sale" to the IRS.

Assets; the value changes depending on the purpose of the evaluation of the asset, are we looking for market value, book value or for taxation purposes?

Accrual, running inventory under LIFO or FIFO only has advantages in taxation when costs of inventory adjust to raising or falling prices of parts or unfinished goods that are held over your accounting period, as in inflationary periods or long holding periods.

However, while much of the information is universally applicable, those areas related to financing, regulation, and taxation will be different here in Canada from the U.S.A.