If I was first starting out with $100K, I would spend some money on marketing to get deals direct to seller to get better deals.

Net income is calculated after accounting for deductible expenses like mortgage interest, repairs, and depreciation.Depreciation is particularly important because it’s a non-cash expense—it’s a paper expense that reduces your taxable income but doesn’t actually require you to spend cash out of pocket.

If you wanna use/spend the money, no way to save taxes.Time to take the bandage out, and pay for it. 

I have a team of 5 that spend the entire day sourcing deals for my investors.I would say you should connect with a good agent that can show you the ropes and provide you with the right resources to learn the market fast. 

.- best chance of near term success is local to you, somewhere you can drive roundtrip with time to spend at the property in a day. - reality is MLS listings using realistic expense estimates at high LTV is cash flow negative

The average time a home spends on the market is <30 days. 

And with a hospitality focus on STR there is a monthly spend on consumables.

Contractors do , BUT we are spending large sums with them on a regular basis .

It's better than spending money every month on the mortgage. 

If you are setting aside funds for capex, taxes, insurance, or other expenses that don't occur monthly, transfer those funds to Savings each month and hold them there until it's time to spend them.