2017 taxes, what do I miss out on by not meeting RE pro criteria

[Kevin D.]

My wife and I self manage our California rental property but spend no where near 750 hours per year doing so. We are W2 earners with over $200k combined income.  Since we don't meet the tax law criteria for "Real Estate Professional" it seems that Turbo Tax disallows a significant amount of loss write off. Is this correct? If so, this seems to drastically diminish the benefits of real estate as an investment. Unless I'm missing something, if I can't write off office space, mileage, business meals, etc. then I'm losing a lot of revenue with no tax benefit. 

Hoping to better understand the implications of this and adjust our expenditures for future years accordingly.