tax write offs for costs incurred while looking for deals

[Andy V.]

I wanted to clarify that one needs to have a rental property, with claimed income, before you can write off expenses associated with it like travel (gas or airfare) to check on it, correct?  In other words, is there any way to write off travel expenses if I go out of state to look for deals or is it only possible if I already have a property and am checking in on it?