With the standard deduction being 24k (or so) for married couples will one single family rental save us on taxable W2 income?

Also, don't forget that the interest income is taxable. 

You'll use $4,000 of that to pay the interest on the loan leaving you with $6,000 of taxable income.

We would really appreciate any advice on what types of account we should use to invest our money aside from a traditional taxable brokerage account.

@John Underwood you are right about not having to take out a RMD from an IRA, 401k or IRA as long as all monies are removed by end of 10 years.All distributions from IRAs and taxable portion of 401ks are taxed.

Distribution out of S-corp is also taxable.

If I put the house into an LLC, will I be able to use the equity (from a HELOC or equity loan) to pay off personal debt, or would that be considered taxable personal income?

(Well, you can deduct the sales tax paid on materials, but it's either a minor tax benefit or none at all)However, if your company is paid for work, that income is taxable for the company.

You would only pay the taxes on the taxable gain on the specific property that is sold at the time and not on the total three. 

So do I get to deduct 27k off my taxable income??