I understand why this is the choice asset for many: they are inexpensive with no barrier & easily financed (easily attainable). 

My non-professional understanding is that those losses can only be used to offset income from that property.

Unfortunately, this problem waste a lot of my time that could be spent on other investments.I have used the same tax professional for many years and he is very educated, but also much older than me and it's hard for me to understand all the reasons he has expressed why is better to put the rental on my personal tax returns.

Verifying last 2 years of rental history and income extremely important to find the “best of the worst”.Make sure you understand the Class of properties you are looking at and the corresponding results to expect.The City of Detroit has 183 Neighborhoods we’ve analyzed.PM us if you’d like to discuss this logical approach in greater detail!

Here's a post I made on "non-conforming" vs "illegal/unpermitted", understand they are NOT the same thing.

Before finalizing anything, I wanted to get a better understanding of how to evaluate different real estate opportunities and what challenges might be posed. 

Understand the fees involved and calculate the total cost for an entire year of management so you can compare the different managers.

@Adam Newman yeah, not understanding your statements, "I have $50k plus about 7k in the bank" and "take out a loan and go in with 20% from the start?".

Make sure that your tax accountant understands this. 

You and your legal, tax and financial advisors should review this transaction in greater detail, especially the PLRs, to ensure you understand the significant risks involved and are structuring the transaction as close as possible to the PLRs to mitigate some of the risks.