I'm not sure why you would want to pay yourself a taxable income via commission or management fees when the money could go back into the IRA and earn interest rather than pay taxes.

Current taxable income isn't the objective, more like cost avoidance or recapture would best describe it.

So, once you pass the 2 year mark, you are home free and can sell your home and exclude your taxable gain up to $500,000 (since you are married) from your taxable income. 

I just wish local appraisers were as optimistic as our tax assessors who inflate (taxable) value beyond comprehension.A colleague spent 3 months & a lot of money rehabbing a classic old home only to have it appraised too low.

You have a ton of deductions in the USA though, including depreciation of the property itself over 27 years, which can reduce your taxable income substantially.

BUT I anticipate this property will also produce taxable losses (because of relatively high depreciation) that can offset some of the taxable income from my other properties. 

Ford annual report, page 17: "At December 31, 2014, we had Tax Attributes that would offset more than $15 billion of taxable income."

I have very little to put down, and there's no way I could get a conventional bank loan for $500,000 with my taxable income. 

The portion of the sale proceeds that your qualified intermediary receives in the form of a seller held note, is not like-kind real estate and, as such, is taxable boot.  

Any retirement plan would need to be kept at arm's length, and could not be combined with personal funds or sweat equity on your part.A ROBS plan would allow you to capitalize your business with prior retirement funds, but is not something we would recommend at less than about $75K as it is complex to establish and maintain.Your only option if you really need to access those funds is to take a taxable distribution and pay an additional 10% penalty for early distribution.