This aligns with my interest in passive income.

If you are sole member LLC you just take a distribution from your business account to your personal account.You are likely already reporting the income on a schedule E.

I'm confused why would you say that rental income is taxed in an IRA?

- The property is probably NOT as profitable as you think it is.More reality for you - how are you going to cashflow enough from leveraged rentals to replace your current income?

I was interested in something like owning a rental property as a way to generate some additional income. 

I am unconvinced that the new administration will meaningfully address the deficit and US credit will continue to erode gradually, contributing to rising rates.

Kudos to you for doing something to create a secondary income stream. there are 5 income streams in RE rentals, possibly six if you do things a certain way.The reality here is your model (buy box) is suffering from too high an entry and too high a cost of capital.

.*** The first 12 incoming checks are free each year.

As already mentioned, you could sell via seller financing to lower AGI, as all you would have to claim is the payment income - until balloon payment received.Did know an investor that had 14 properties paid off and he moved into one every two years to then sell with the $250k single exemption.

Income approach Also known as the rental income approach, this method estimates the market value by analyzing the property's anticipated future income and converting it to a present value estimate.