Deducting Losses on Sale of Primary Home converted to Rental

[Kabir Gandhi]

I purchased my primary residence in June of 2017.  I overpaid for the property, this was a rushed purchase after a move to a new city.  Horrible financial decision.  If I sell right now, I will lose a good chunk of money

Instead of selling, I placed my property for rent about 3 months back.  It is listed at fair market rent (in fact, it is listed at a lower rent then an equivalent condo in my building).  So far, no takers...

How long do I have to keep the property on the market before I can deduct my losses from a sale?  Ideally, I would love to rent this out for a year or 2 and reassess the situation then

But, if I decide to list it for sale today and lose money, will that be considered a deductible rental activity?

I have enough passive activity income from other properties to offset any losses from the sale of the property I would incur this year.  How long do I need to keep it on the market as a rental before I can look to sell and still have my losses be deductible?

One other thing to add, the fair market value of the property has not dropped on paper as of yet. I recently had a bank appraisal for HELOC come out to slightly higher than the amount I paid for the home. so it is easy enough for me to show that fair market value at the time I placed the home into service as a rental was actually more than what I paid for it.