The surplus line broker shall collect the Ohio tax of five percent of the amount of the premium for the insurance policy at the time the insurance policy is delivered to the insured."

 - prop 13 basically fixes the property tax.  

With the purchase, the rehab, the closing costs and the holding costs (hard money, taxes, insurance, utilities) our all in is around $200,000, but we have created $40,000 in equity.

An LLC doesn't make a difference in your federal taxes or what you can deduct.What you want to do is technically possible, but there are several hurdles. 

A mortgage lender can help determine if refinancing or tapping into equity might allow you to acquire additional properties.Consider a 1031 Exchange: If you're open to selling a current property, a 1031 exchange can defer capital gains taxes while enabling you to upgrade to a larger or more profitable asset.

What I noticed so far is extremely high property taxes. 

There's a big swing here in insurance and tax calculations I see and getting those numbers accurate are critical for your ability to not miss on good deals

Hard money loans offer fast approval and don't risk personal assets but come with high-interest rates and fees, which can be tax-deductible as carrying costs.

If you control how they perform tasks, set their hours, or provide tools, they should likely be a W-2 employee, requiring you to withhold taxes and comply with payroll regulations.

Last year my best deal came from calling the tax delinquent list.