You must report rental income on Schedule E and can deduct rental expenses like repairs, maintenance, property taxes, mortgage interest (allocated between personal and rental use), and depreciation for the rented portion.

i would never tell a random person on the internet where they should live. 

Based on an inspection report on one of the deals I worked on last year, I was able to negotiate over $15k of credits and repairs for a $200k house using a $400 inspection report for one of my clients.

None of this has anything to do with your personal tax return.

Personally I like to build with cash to avoid the extra expenses, so I dont actually finance anything until its done and I have decided to hold it.

He sees me as a dreamer, and not a doer, which to his credit is kind of accurate.

Not sure if they have upgraded to desktop appraisals but if they are still doing in person appraisals , make sure you get everything (scope of work, good faith deposit, social, LLC docs, insurance, proof of prior experience, financial statements) in ASAP.

Personally I would just get the proper licensing and insurance if I wanted to manage properties for others. 

The absence of a personal guarantee from any disqualified persons is still required, just as with third-party financing.

Imagine making millions of dollars over the course of your career and then having to pay 30-50% every year to uncle sam instead of compounding that cash over time.This is exactly what real estate professionals have learned to mitigate.To reduce their taxable income, they just buy a building every year, do a cost seg, and use depreciation to reduce their tax liability dramatically.Their personal wealth snowball grows much larger and much faster than their W2 counterparts who give most of their money back to the government each year.Following this strategy as a real estate professional is one of best ways to end up with a much larger net worth at the end of your career.