A good real estate accountant can save you thousands of dollars by leveraging entity selection and formation, tax deductions, cost segregations, bonus depreciation and tax planning.I recommend finding an accountant who specializes in real estate taxation, business taxation, financial planning and tax planning.You may want to consider working with your accountant remotely to expand your options.I would also recommend looking for a accountant willing to work with you throughout the year.

The operator may trade off the longer term benefits to keep a high quality tenant in place.

While I often “trade” properties, a friend of mine is a buy and hold guy.  

Across the board, the worse the neighborhood, the better the cash flow, the better the neighborhood, the trade off for tenants base, better schools, low crime, etc etc.

Non traded public REIT? 

maybe you and your husband can trade off making trips there to build a network in person? 

But the rental too does have to meet the "active conduct of a trade or business" threshold, which does mean you wouldn't qualify to use section 179 if you have a rental that is managed entirely by someone else and you aren't at least overseeing it and making decisions about the management of it.I mostly disagree with the reply suggesting that you need to have an LLC to take the section 179 deduction. 

you have most certainly come to the right place to sync up with other investors and learn more about their experiences and trade strategies. 

Say that $500k is invested in a new trade or business - now it is business interest expense. 

While I don't believe that you need a full blown business plan, strict operational budget, timeline, scrum board, etc...