This allows you to take the first $250k ($500k if married) of the gain tax free.

What better way to gain insights than go straight to the source on sentiment instead of trying to work backwards with data and reports.

It certainly shows how a stream of income is MUCH more valuable than a pile of money.  

Building trust will come with continued learning, sharing valuable market insights, and gathering testimonials from satisfied clients.If you need help with financing or more guidance along the way, I’d be happy to assist!

The only difference is that there might be an explainable rationale for holding on to a property, such as a well-founded belief that equity gains are coming (such as owning a house in a rapidly growing area or property where the next commercial boom is headed), whereas with gambling your odds never change regardless of your losses.

Hopefully you have learned some valuable lessons about being a landlord. 

For the purpose of, say, minimizing capital gain in the same year. 

At the early stages, the more control you have over your real estate, the better returns thus I recommend investing locally to make your dollar go that much farther and gain a good familarity with real estate before exploring out of state investing.

That way we could either claim expenses as deductions or through depreciation, rather than just as an increase in basis for capital gains if it was our primary residence? 

There are a ton of Facebook pages you can gain insight and possible renters from.