I'm a resident physician and love REI about as much as treating patients. 

In general, when you paste a good deal make sure to provide as much of the information as possible or people will start treating you as a scammer.

Eat whole foods but treat yourself once in a while.

If you do your own taxes and use TurboTax or a similar site, there are prompts that will guide you how to treat these expenses for tax purposes. 

Deals are slim because competition is high and the inexperienced investors treat these areas like buyers instead of investors and buy irrationally which prices the savvy and cash-flow oriented investor out.

I feel like there's a lot more to consider, but it really depends on who you're renting to and how they're going to treat the house.

I thought that, at least I could deduct property taxes, Interest, PMI and Home owner's insurance.I am being told that, basically, we have to treat the entire rent check as taxable profit because of our income.

The agent's buying/selling activities have nothing to do with the property renovation project, and must be treated that way except to inform the public of the agent's personal interest in the property.

It may sound silly since its not a traditional business, but that's what REI is, so you must treat it like that.

Yes we have relied on mentors (our contractors and real estate agents), but we have sent them leads, work and have treated them fairly on every project we do.Much cheaper than hiring a guru who you really don't know if they are successful in the first place.