When I graduated college I went through this exact tradeoff... was living rent-free or I could househack and own a place that builds equity, but I would need to put into it every month. 

Any tips, tricks, or best practices you wish you knew when starting out?

My spouse and I bought 2 smaller apartment buildings with a total of 14 units with a partner a few years after I was out of college.

The area I was in was a heavy medical and college district. 

We play games called, "lets show the property to a perspective tenant" and "lets go to closing together" and "lets deposit money in your bank account" and "lets review your college fund investments".

I'm not saying you can't ask for it, but in a practical sense it likely doesn't matter on most small sales. 

None of the above works unless you take action and put it into practice.

I've seen them allOn paper its fantastic, in practice not so much, but at that point it is too late... 

For all practical purposes, 100% bonus is dead, as far as I know.Depreciation, bonus or regular, starts when the property is placed in service, not when purchased and not when cost seg is done.

A house is always valued and appraised using residential practices which uses comparable sales.