All retirement plans, including self employed retirement plans require earned income in order to contribute. It sounds like you won't have that.
You might be able to get the real estate income reclassified as Schedule C income instead of Schedule E income if you meet certain requirements, but that's usually something people very much want to avoid as you lose many of the tax advantages of real estate investing. You'd also then have to pay self employment tax on that income which is an instant ~14% tax all of the income (a flat tax, not a progressive tax like the normal tax brackets).
Also, even if you earn income, if you meet the requirements for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, you won't owe tax on that money (except self employment tax if applicable), and therefore won't be eligible to contribute that income to a retirement plan.