Since most real estate purchase agreements do not assign value to each category, taxpayers must understand what options are available to determine the appropriate allocation to land and building.Taxpayers are required to separately identify the value of non-depreciable items (i.e., land) from the depreciable building and site improvements.

I know lots of new investors can get taken advantage of like that and I'd love to avoid that. 

I'm curious, is there a way in a syndication to shift that depreciation that is of no use to me to another partner who can take advantage of it?

You’d be a able to take advantage of depreciation this way. 

Beyond the tax advantages, installing solar panels can be a great way to market higher-end rental properties.

So I can sleep at night knowing I wasn’t trying to take advantage of them.

Also, agree on how the property will be used, who can live there, and under what conditions.Contribution Reconciliation: Determine a process for handling situations where one party cannot meet their financial obligations or if there are significant discrepancies in contributions to expenses.Legal and Professional Fees: Decide how legal and other professional fees related to the purchase and management of the property will be shared.Taxes: How will the tax advantages be divided?

Anyway, I'm thinking maybe HF has more advantage for online bidding, as they could essentially create many virtual IDs and have a large pool of fund to leverage.

I positioned mine near Case Western Reserve University and the hospital system, and that has been a major advantage.

Yes, you aren't taking advantage of the better financing options available for homeowners, but that's only one of many things to take into account when investing in real estate.California is also a really tough state to invest in; high prices, unfriendly to landlords, etc.