If it's important to be near the Bay area then maybe consider the Tahoe Reno, NV market because it's only a few hours away if you need to go to the office and it offers a landlord friendly environment, low property taxes, and no state income tax.

These are reported and "retained" on IRS Form 8582.Of course, if you are unsure or would like additional guidance in determining what might fit your specific situation, please reach out to a CPA/Tax Professional who may be able to assist.

What I mean by this is considering how much your down payment returns to your net worth (appreciation, loan paydown, tax benefits, AND rent avoidance).

You will have to do some site prep work prior to the set up. 

I use Innago as a management program which allows different taxable entities for the rents, which would assist when it comes tax season.

I am in search of an efficient system  to track my rental properties regarding income and expenses to make it easy for my accountant at tax time.

Look at lists of properties that are on the Sheriff Sale, and Tax Sales, as some of those could have assumable mortgages, and provide a list of potential assumable mortgages, where the owners are potentially losing their properties.David KrulacBigger Pockets Podcast guest #82  

Taxes in these zip codes might be higher but they're great long term holds with steady appreciation.

You need to understand the tax regulations on both sides of the boarder.

Not to mention I got to write off over $175k from my income taxes using a cost-segregation study.