residental/rental property renovation tax question!

[Justin Moody]

I am 100% new to rental property and maybe have a somewhat unique situation I am looking into for my start in rentals. My wife and I live in a very small 2 bed 1 bath jack and jill that needs some renovations (very old.) I am currently looking at buying my family property of home and 38 acres where I grew up and consider to be my home. I plan to buy the family property and just keep my current home and use as my first rental property. My question is this: The home we are looking has be rented to some family since my grand parents passed on around 10 years ago, the relation that has rented it have destroyed it, and it needs ALOT of renovation before we can move in. Is there a way to get the renovation claimed on my taxes? I would think renovation costs get reimbursed upon a sale of a property, but with some of the things I have seen people talk about online, and elsewhere, just wondered if there was a way to claim the new property somehow to write off all the expenses on my taxes next year. I somewhat feel like I am playing dirty pool, but also know there are alot of ways to claim things that are perfectly legal, to be clear, I am not trying to cheat, but if I can get some of the money back, it would sure help toward buying a second property or paying off the first/current home, or put toward the mortgage of the upcoming property. I hope I did an ok job of explaining myself. Thank you for any advice in advance!