landlord taxes - help me understand the benefits please!

[Corey Demuth]

I keep reading about how there are so many benefits to being a landlord, because you can reduce your income taxes and such...

Can anyone please explain how it works? Like a basic overview? I have heard people talk about appreciating/depreciating but it went over my head a bit... how does it work?

Also, an investor was telling me that you can deduct the interest you pay on property loans, and effectively bring your taxable income down to a very low percentage... but I also heard that you can only deduct the interest on your primary residence. Plus wouldn't there be some kind of system or rules in place to prevent people from avoiding paying taxes by owning a lot of property?

Lots of conflicting information, please clarify this for me! Thanks!